


The Bait and Switch

by Sk3tch



Category: Captain Marvel (2019)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Author's first attempt, Bodyswap, Carol is still called Vers in this, Enemies to Friends, Fic Exchange, Gen, I'm Sorry, Minn-Erva has a heart?, No Major Character Death/Injury, Pre-Captain Marvel, Some angst, Tags May Change, Yon-Rogg is still a slimy jerk, oh golly, some strong language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-15
Updated: 2019-06-18
Packaged: 2020-05-12 13:43:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 25,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19230289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sk3tch/pseuds/Sk3tch
Summary: While inside the Supreme Intelligence's training program some sort of glitch occurs. When Minn-Erva wakes up, it is to discover she is now in Vers' body, and vice versa. Obviously they are desperate to get back to their own bodies, but when the rest of Starforce leaves to track down a lead on what caused the tech glitch, the two will be forced to work together. Thngs, while already strange, are only going to get weirder. Because much to their dismay, all of the signs eventually start to lead them to realize this wasn't a fluke after all, and someone wanted to switch Vers and Minn-Erva specifically. When they close in on the truth, will they be able to work together to make things right, or will certain forces successfully keep them apart?Summary to be edited.





	1. A Change of Heart... Literally

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sevenofspade](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sevenofspade/gifts).



                “Ughhh,” Vers groaned, “..tell me again why we are doing this?” Minn-Erva rolled her eyes for the umpteenth time, but had to agree with the sentiment. She had been asking herself the same question for the last two hours. Beyond Vers being a pain in her ass by being a terrible student, training Vers was testing Minn-Erva’s self-control not to put her in a chokehold to get just a few minutes of peace.

                “You know why we’re here.” Minn-Erva answered curtly and Vers sighed, picking up the targets, and setting each of them back up on the pedestals they came from.

                “Okay,” she said again making Minn-Erva look up, “sure I get why we’re doing this,” she shrugged at the targets now behind her, “but why are we doing… this?” This time, Vers waved a hand at the air around them. Minn-Erva frowned, it had been half an hour since the last time Vers had asked, and Minn-Erva had foolishly thought that perhaps Vers’ curiosity had finally ebbed and she would focus on the task at hand.

                “Vers. Your abilities are still new and you are a child when it comes to controlling them. Untrained courage is useless Vers, any fool can run into a fight. That’s why you need to keep at this until you can do these simple tasks with ease.” Minn-Erva ignored the pitiful ‘hey!’ and went on, “And you know as well as I do, the last… seven? The last seven times you trained with either myself or Yon-Rogg, crews have spent weeks fixing the structural damage you caused.” Vers looked down frowning.

                “I’m getting better now. Besides, we could always go outs-”

                “No. Forgive me, but for some reason I don’t think moving your training outside would help your focus.” She stared pointedly and Vers threw her hands up and shrugged.

                “Now,” Minn-Erva continued, “the Supreme Intelligence was gracious enough to allow this training to take place for you. _They_ ,” she spit out the word, “seem to see promise in you. If I were you, I wouldn’t waste the opportunity.” She watched as Vers let out a breath, but nodded, getting back into position with Minn-Erva behind her offering instruction.

                Really, Minn-Erva had not been lying. This was an opportunity for Vers, and moreover herself. Yon-Rogg had not gotten very far in training Vers, and had asked Minn-Erva to take several sessions as his second in command. Maybe her feminine ways would help Vers unlock the secret to her powers, he had said. Minn-Erva had promptly snorted, but reluctantly agreed to the request. It had been months since bringing her back and acclimating her to the ways of the Kree and they still had little to go on about what Vers was capable of, or what she knew. Minn-Erva knew Yon-Rogg was not only preparing her to battle on behalf of the Kree, but to get the knowledge he thought she had trapped in her head in regards to Mar-Vell. Minn-Erva thought it was useless, but she didn’t dare say that to Yon-Rogg. He had given her a job, and she would do it as best as she could, if not better.

                That was why Minn-Erva was there. And so far, all she had to show for it was a new record in not losing her patience, yet. If he were here, Yon-Rogg would have some wise-crack about that, Minn-Erva was sure. As to the reason they were both where they were…

                Typically when one had an audience with the Supreme Intelligence, it was a solo affair. But, thanks to the incredibly advanced abilities of the AI, the supreme was able to manifest programs that would allow multiple inhabitants to enter and train. It wasn’t unheard of that they would appear within an exercise like this to check in and make suggestions. They would then become much less physical, taking on a mix of the occupants’ most admired, but they were still as imperial as ever.

So not only were they able to train under unusual circumstances without the threat of real imminent danger, they were able to seek guidance while drilling should they need it. Training in here also came with the promise that Vers could really let go and push herself to see what all her powers would allow her to do, instead of tip toeing around it and accidently breaking everything in a twenty foot radius.

                The practice hall was built solidly already, and since they were connected to a computer program via a neural link with the Supreme Intelligence, it was nigh impossible Vers could do any real significant damage, although Minn-Erva wasn’t holding her breath.

                Their physical bodies were actually in the middle of a large hall with multiple neural transponders hooked up for training simulations like this. One drawback about that layout, Minn-Erva thought, was that you always had to be diligent when ducking around the many pillars inside, in case you accidently joined someone else’s programs.

She sighed, what she wouldn’t give right about now to be in any other program.

                As it was, the whole team was doing variations of these ‘exercises’. Minn-Erva knew it was mostly a ploy for her, Yon-Rogg had assigned the whole of the Starforce in their respective two-person teams because of the mission he had put her on. Well, mission was one word for it. The others were running simulations and such training, while she was teaching Vers how to aim and hopefully maintain a photon blast. Vers was successful in that she could make one appear, but after that, untrained chaos ensued. Forlornly Minn-Erva wondered how long Yon-Rogg would have her do these sessions with Vers.

                The Supreme Intelligence had apparently given instructions to Yon-Rogg to have her teach Vers, although why she had no idea. The Supreme knew Minn-Erva wasn’t a fan of Vers, and they also knew she was even less of a fan of training someone. Maybe it was a test, she thought, as she watched Vers create another weak blast of energy, watching it steadily growing bigger and thus wilder, arcing little off-shoots of energy. One managed to knock a target down by sheer luck and Vers let out a small victory cry that made Minn-Erva roll her eyes. She opened her mouth to tell Vers to focus harder and actually knock one down by intending to do so, when a second, brighter beam of light zapped down from above and struck the ground between their shared space. In an instant, Minn-Erva was in a defensive stance.

                “Vers?! Stop what you’re doing, now!” Even as she spoke, however, she saw Vers lowering her arms and the energy coming out of her slowed to a trickle.

                The initial flash of light they each saw, had gathered again, but this time surrounded them. It swirled above and between and around, practically filling the room. Minn-Erva looked at her arms and saw the hairs standing on edge from the charged power. Something wasn’t right.

                “Right, we’re done.” She strode over to where Vers stood, her trainee looking around the room trying to find the source of it all. Minn-Erva had already done the same, but when nothing seemed to be the source, had made the executive decision to get them out of here. Could it be there was a glitch in the system? Or, more likely, something Vers had done triggered something bigger…

                She didn’t have much time to ruminate on that, however, as another strike of the energetic lightning touched down, this time not having the courtesy to miss them. The second it touched down, it enveloped them both in a pure blanket of energy, making each atom of Minn-Erva’s being come alive with pain and potential. Judging from the state of Vers slack jawed and wide-eyed, she felt it too. The strike lasted a second, but a second that was fully too long. Even after it was done, Minn-Erva could still feel the effects, like she was being broken down piece by piece and rearranged, but not quite in the right way, only to have the process begin anew.

                In front of her, Vers was on her knees, teeth ground together and hands curled into fists by her side. The pain, while not ideal, was growing exponentially worse with every new reconstruction. It seemed every second that went by it increased ten-fold. Minn-Erva tried to make her way to Vers, to snap her out of the pain long enough for them to leave, but, she had to concede to it herself, taking a knee. Her head had become a splitting ache, and her skin didn’t quite fit right. What was going on? As her hands flew to cradle her head, she found her voice, and called out to the only person that could possibly help them.

“Supreme!” she grunted, “What’s… unnf.. happening?!” Minn-Erva felt herself stretching now, impossibly far, in ways people weren’t meant to be pulled. It wasn’t just her skin, which felt as if it were caught in some sort of torture device being slowly cranked off her bones. Her whole soul, if that were possible, felt like it was being ripped out of her. A grunt of pain beside her told Minn-Erva Vers she wasn’t alone.

                Another blast of light shot around them, but they were in too much pain to register anything beside the brightness of it, each doubled over in pain screaming from the detachment of themselves from themselves. Minn-Erva couldn’t tell if it was her agonized scream reaching new heights or Vers’, but it didn’t matter. Everything was getting louder and louder and the pain was building more and impossibly more.

                Her eyelids had closed from the pain and ever growing amount of gravity pulling and pushing down on them, but with another jolt of light flashing around, and this time through them, she forced her eyes open, needing to see her end if this is what it was. To her surprise, she saw her own face screwed up in pain and agony, curled in a ball screaming back at her.

                Wait… what?

                Although she was nearly paralyzed from the forces acting on her, she twisted her head and looked down at her hands, finding pale flesh balled into impossibly tight fists. Blood was starting to fall from where the nails cut into the palm but she couldn’t feel that over the rest of her agony. She tried to call out to the Supreme Intelligence, but one final energy burst pushed down on them both, forcing all of the air out of Minn-Erva’s chest and any consciousness out of her head.

 

*             *             *

                The cool silence that met her ears when she was back in her head and out of the runaway training session Yon-Rogg had assigned her and Vers to, told Minn-Erva she was in the medical bay. The isolation section she figured, to be more specific. She had been here once before, for observation after she had been mind wiped by the Skrull after an ambush. Yon-Rogg had barely gotten the two of them out alive, the rest of their team at the time had not been so fortunate. The recovery was its own kind of torture, but at least she was alive to recover.

She had been placed in isolated observation for a month following their return. Yon-Rogg sent daily updates about his follow up plans for those who ambushed them, and she had access to basically anything she wanted to read or watch, but she had still been nearly crazy by the time they finally let her out. Even if it’s for your own safety, a locked room is still nothing more than a cage.

She swore she would never allow herself to be placed back here under any circumstances, and had made sure Yon-Rogg knew that. She sighed, something really bad must have happened if they would go against Yon-Rogg and put her here despite her wishes.

                Opening her eyes, she stretched out her sore limbs. The memory of feeling her tissues rip themselves apart made her shiver and she dropped her arms, forgoing the stretching and jumping out of the medical gurney instead. Blonde fringe fell into her eyes and she brushed it back with an annoying huff. Hopefully they would give her a hairbrush this time around, if it was going to be another extended stay. Last time had been a nightm-.

                Minn-Erva paused, blinking several times in quick succession. Slowly, she reached a hand up, and pulled the strands of fallen hair back in front of her face. It was blonde alright, about shoulder length. Her stomach did a funny little flip as she dropped the strands to instead stare at both hands held in front of her eyes. Which, come to think of her eyes… They felt like they were sharper, seeing more detail than usual regardless if it was a nearby object or something farther away. Actually, everything seemed stronger, like she had an energy flowing through her that, should she want, could just explode!

Oh… oh no.

She didn’t want to acknowledge the possibility, but if the theory that was reluctantly forming in her head was correct, there was a perfectly logical and impossible reason which made all of this make horrible sense.

                Turning her hands over and over again, looking for answers in the palm or imbedded in the nailbeds, she heard the telltale click of the doors about to open. She turned and caught the reflection of a wild-eyed Vers in the reflective surface before they slid open to reveal Yon-Rogg with hands held up.

                “Easy Minn-Erva, I’m glad to see you awake but you need to take it slow. There’s been… an incident.” She rolled her eyes, that had to be the understatement of the year.

                “You don’t fucking say,” she sputtered pointing at herself, but stopped at the sound of her voice, “Yon-Rogg... tell me what’s going on, now!”

                He took a step forward and another, but hesitated in front of her, his eyes searching her face. After a second he stepped to the side clasping his hands behind his back. She knew he had been about to put a hand on her shoulder, but had decided not to for whatever reason. Maybe because she didn’t look like herself? Or, could it be something worse? What if something else, more concerning, was going on with her?

                “There was an attack.”

                “What? When? How did we g-” He held up a gloved hand and she relented, going to lean against the one way mirror that made up most of one wall. He watched her, and once she was settled, he nodded and continued.

                “No one was hurt, Att-Lass and Bron-Char had finished their training before it happened and assisted Korath and I in keeping everyone on Hala calm. A small troop of Skrull and Skrull-sympathizers launched a cyber-attack that, although small, caused severe damage to the Supreme Intelligence. In response they have since shut down non-essential programs and requests for audience.” Minn-Erva nodded, alright, that made sense. If the Supreme Intelligence had been compromised, it made perfect sense that they would limit access for further interaction. But, he hadn’t told her everything, had he? She looked back and he was frowning.

                “The attack came while you two, you and Vers, were still inside the program and…” He took a breath, maybe for her benefit as much as his own. “The attack caused damage as I said. The protocol the Supreme Intelligence has should have aborted your consciousness as soon as any red flags went off, but that part of the system was one that was affected. It could not export you until it was too late, and the data got mixed up. I, Minn-Erva…” This time she held up a hand and he stopped talking.

                “What I’m getting is that we couldn’t be exported from the system fast enough and the neural connections got crossed somehow, thanks to this attack?” He nodded. “So if what you are saying is what I’m understanding, my consciousness is in Vers body and Vers’ consciousness is in my body… essentially we swapped bodies?” She swallowed, letting the truth settle on her tongue as she honestly tried her best not to retch.

                “Yes.” That one affirmative sentence sent all of the air out of her at once, as she realized the gravity of the situation and she leaned over, gasping. Yon-Rogg was by her side in an instant but she pushed him away, just needing a second to adjust. Except, the tiny push she gave him seemed to have more the effect of a punch, as he flew several feet away from her to crash into the wall. She stared at him, dazed as the doors opened and several Kree medical personnel poured into the room with tasers at the ready.

                “Wait, no!” Yon-Rogg called out from a kneeling position as he pushed himself up and strode over to stand in front of Minn-Erva. “That was an accident, we’re fine. Stand down.” The group seemed hesitant, Minn-Erva would guess because of the slow trickle of blood falling from a cut above her leader’s eyebrow, but after a few seconds of his unwavering glare, they backed out of the room leaving just her and Yon-Rogg once more. After a moment he turned around and looked at her again, scrutinizing her eyes, before chuckling and making her frown.

                “If I didn’t know any better I would think I was talking to Vers.” Minn-Erva scowled, stomping over to the bed and sitting on the edge of it. He, of course, followed her, standing just in front of her.

                “Minn-Erva, in seriousness, you have to be careful. Now that you are in Vers’ body, you appear to also have her untamed powers. We still do not know the extent as to what that explosion did. Please be careful.” Reluctantly she nodded, he was right. It had only been a few months since going on that shit-show mission and ‘Vers’ as Yon-Rogg had taken to calling her, had been an unfortunate souvenir. They had given her blood transfusions, cementing her new status as something Kree, something human, and had worked with her, giving her the information and history she so desperately needed to become this version of herself. After this short amount of time, they still knew nearly nothing about her abilities apart from how wild they were and how connected they seemed to be with her emotions. She still had such a large potential for danger, although they would never let Vers know that.

                “So, what do we do now? Can we get the Supreme intelligence to get this sorted?” She knew she was close to whining, and that if the situation were not as serious as it was, Yon-Rogg would have called her out on it. His eyes did hold a smirk, but it did not reach his mouth.

                “That would have been my first call, but unfortunately the Supreme Intelligence has blocked all unnecessary encounters inside the neural matrix, even from Starforce.” He quirked an eyebrow at her near interruption at ‘unnecessary’ and continued, “however, as soon as the Supreme Intelligence deems itself repaired enough and safe against any sort of secondary attacks, I am already issuing the go ahead for both of your returns to your own bodies. From what the doctor thinks, only the Supreme themselves can undo this accident.”

                “So in the meantime?”

                “In the meantime,” he said with a frown, “we’ll need to continue as we are. That is, we must not let the rest of Hala know anything went wrong. They know something happened within the Supreme’s systems, but as far as their knowledge goes, it was without massive consequence. Some systems were affected, but nothing major.” He glanced at Minn-Erva in a way that was challenging and she nodded, slightly.

                “That said, we are going to have to be… discreet.” He pulled up a message on his wrist and Minn-Erva tried to catch it backwards, but only caught her and Vers’ name.

                “Alright, since you are both awake and briefed on the basics of what is going on, we’ll have a more in depth meeting all together. Get dressed and meet me down in the strategy room.” He moved toward the door, but paused short of entering his handprint.

                “And Minn-Erva, should you run into anyone, remember, you are for all intents and purposes, Vers now, so act accordingly.” The whoosh of the doors overpowered the footfalls of his boots and she sat for another minute before standing. This was, to put it simply, more than a bit to take in.

Lost in thought, she walked over to the set of clothes waiting for her on a cart in the corner and deftly put them on. She knew they were Vers’, Minn-Erva had seen her wear them multiple times. She had a similar set, of course, but she could still spot the difference. Although they were identical, they felt different from Minn-Erva’s, foreign. It was likely all in her head, but she really didn’t care for it. Just keep going, she told herself, and maybe you’ll wake up from this nightmare yet.

                After taming the new blonde locks that seemed to fly every which way, regardless of airflow or lack thereof, she placed her palm on the scanner and was released from the med-bay. Minn-Erva hadn’t realized she was holding her breath, but as soon as the doors opened, a large breath came out of her, nearly emptying her lungs. The isolated med-bay really made her uneasy.

                Free, Minn-Erva walked quickly to her destination and was fortunate not to meet anyone on her way. She didn’t want to talk to anyone on a good day, so she definitely did not want to talk to anyone while parading around as Vers.

*             *             *

                She had thought she would beat Vers there, the other always seeming to be slow when gathering for practices or evacuation drills, but she was there when Minn-Erva walked in. Except… Minn-Erva had to stop in the doorway before she fully entered the room. Sprawling in a chair with her hands under her head as she appeared to deflect something Yon-Rogg had asked, was Minn-Erva. Well, her body. It was surreal.

                Yon-Rogg stopped mid-sentence and when Vers realized he was looking at the doorway, she turned around to look too. The shock of truly seeing the full repercussions of the situation was like having an out of body experience, which, well… Looking at herself from the back had been one thing, facing herself was something else entirely. Minn-Erva imagined the shock was the same on her own face as it was on Vers’.

                Vers rose slowly, and walked over to Minn-Erva to stop in front of her. They scanned each other’s face, a face which they had each come to know their whole life, and couldn’t help but mirror each other. When her body raised a blue hand to hover near her cheek, however, Minn-Erva snapped out of the enchantment and swatted the hand away. Vers gasped, and then laughed, chuckling lightly as she turned back around and sat down in her chair.

                “Yeah, that must be Minn-Erva.” Yon-Rogg looked off in the distance and shook his head with a blank expression. Minn-Erva rolled her eyes and shut the door before taking the other available seat. Although the shock was still there, it was slowly wearing off as she kept stealing little glances at her body.

                “Okay then. I told you both the basics earlier when you each woke up. That is,” he hedged, “we pieced together what happened when Vers woke up first. She was confused as to why I kept calling her Minn-Erva. It was confirmed you were switched with each other, and not perhaps lost in the Supreme, once Minn-Erva woke up.” Sure, she thought, that made sense. They must have been separated for observation purely because of their unconscious states, and it just happened they found this little exchange once they came to.

                “So what exactly caused this? You said there was an attack?” Minn-Erva didn’t need to know anything else about the realization they had been switched, she already knew they were, what she wanted to know was how, and what they were going to do about it. He nodded, ready to move on as well.

                “At first glance this seemed like a glitch in the system, but the signs became clear it was due to  an attempt to hack our system by the Skrull. We don’t know how they managed to get ahold of such skills to do it, and therefore I don’t think they are solely responsible.”

                “So, you didn’t get them?” Minn-Erva had been under the impression that Yon-Rogg and the others had been able to tail the attackers.

                “No, unfortunately. I’ve set up our best data analysts to work on finding a location of origin, but until we have that, there’s no way to tell where it came from or who it came from with certainty.”

                “Our strategy is to wait?” He sighed, and nodded.

                “Right now, yes. I am confident they will have something soon enough though. There was a short disruption in the coding, a clash.” Minn-Erva thought back to the flashes of energy in the room, and wondered if that could be connected to what he was referring to. She mentioned them and Yon-Rogg considered.

                “Well, it’s possible, but I can’t say for certain. Even so, I’ll let them know.” He typed a message onto his wrist and Minn-Erva knew whoever he sent it to would receive it in a short second. Probably even before she could finish that thought.

                “Anyway, as far as the public knows, it was only a glitch in our system. Perhaps from an upgrade the Supreme has been working on.” He waved his hands as if to say the citizens would fill in the blank with their own narrative of the situation, and she guessed he was probably right. “Until we have more to go on, we’ll need to keep this quiet. No one can know the truth at this moment, especially since we don’t know it fully yet either.” A moment passed where no one said anything, thinking on all of the information that was splayed before them, trying to make sense of it all, when Yon-Rogg cleared his throat.

                “So… I would think it goes without saying, but I will anyway, you are not to talk to anyone else about what has happened, even the rest of the team. That’s an order. Do you understand?” Minn-Erva gave a quick ‘understood’, but Vers lingered on her affirmation. Minn-Erva glanced over and winced at how her body was being folded over and slumped onto the table. It looked like she could care less about the proceedings and like she wasn’t even listening. Minn-Erva also knew, extended amounts of time spent like that were bound to mess up her back, and she pursed her lips at the thought. When she got her body back, hopefully sooner rather than later, she would not stand to be crippled from bad posture and terrible choices. She would end this now.

                “Hey!” She barked at Vers, whose familiar dark blue eyes snapped over to her, “do you think this is a joke? Sit up and pay attention!”

                “Gosh Minn-Erva, you’re right, I thought this was all a funny, funny joke. You got me!” She sat up and crossed her bare blue arms in front of her chest, staring back at Minn-Erva with a scowl. Minn-Erva didn’t like the way Vers distorted her features with such a childlike sneer.

                “Well now you know, so stop acting like a child!” Minn-Erva felt her brows raise nearly off her forehead when her body had the audacity to stick it’s tongue out at her. That was it. She rose from the table with her fist crashing down onto it.

                “Why… You ungrateful, little-”

                “Minn-Erva!” Yon-Rogg’s voice cut through her fury just enough to make her falter in her words and she looked back at him. His eyes, however, weren’t looking at her face. Rather, they were looking down at her fist, which had gone straight through the table and was starting to singe the material around her skin. As soon as she realized what was happening, the energy flowing through her being charged by the angry emotions ceased and her skin returned to its new pale coloring. She let out a breath and sat back down, ashamed she had lost her temper so easily. She didn’t need to look over to see the smug look that would be plastered on her face, err, Vers’ face now. They all seemed to take a minute before Yon-Rogg spoke again.

                “Clearly this is going to be challenging. But like I said, we need to keep this as classified as possible, with as few people knowing as possible. So far,” he continued when neither of the women in front of him gave any outbursts, “that includes you both, me, the chief of medicine who has sworn his confidentiality on the matter, and of course the Supreme Intelligence.”

                “What we will do to maintain this… _ruse_ ,” he said even though the word seemed to be degrading in his mouth, “we’ve already started. You’re wearing the clothes correct to each of your bodies. From here on out until we are able to re-connect to the Supreme Intelligence, you will need to continue dressing as such, and acting like your counterpart would. This will include mannerisms, schedules- although I will reorganize each of your trainings in a manner that fits each of your skill levels and needs that makes sense to anyone who may notice, and lastly, you will have to reside in the rooms that suit the body you are presenting as.” He leveled a stare at both of them, especially Vers who looked ready to argue much of what he had just said, but he continued.

                “Furthmore, the secrecy. This unfortunately extends to our teammates. As few people as possible. Now,” he said as he sat back with the air of someone who truly felt defeated after delivering bad news, “any further questions?”

                “Only about a million,” Vers grumbled from her side of the table and Minn-Erva rolled her eyes. She jumped in before Vers could start wasting Yon-Rogg’s time by asking any stupid questions.

                “Do we have a rough timeline for the repairs? Has the Supreme Intelligence given you direction for how long we’ll have to last like… this?” Minn-Erva jabbed two fingers into each corner of her mouth and pushed up, forcing Vers’ body to smile dopily. She took more than a little pleasure in the squawk that came from her borrowed body. Yon-Rogg sighed, and she dropped the fingers, wiping the spittle onto her borrowed pants.

                “Unfortunately Minn-Erva, I have not been given a timeline. They seem to think repairs will be quick, but their internal investigation into how a Skrull computer virus could do such damage will take longer. They want to thoroughly know that when they open their system up to any interactions, there will not be any latent danger waiting to strike. I will let you each know when I find out anything. Now, I have quite a bit of work to do, so if you will excuse yourselves? I’ll have a schedule for you in your rooms by the time you wake tomorrow. Until then, Vers, I’m putting Minn-Erva in charge of anything that may come up for the both of you if I’m not available. Which, I won’t be, for the rest of the night.” Minn-Erva felt how much he wanted them to leave, from working alongside him for so long and from his tone. She rose and walked to the door, hearing Vers do the same behind her.

                “Oh, and Minn-Erva, Vers,” he said as they got to the door. Minn-Erva turned around first, in time to see Vers do the same when her name was called, and they both got a disappointing head shake from Yon-Rogg. “Remember, it’s not just the mannerisms, and the clothes, you ARE each other now, get used to each other’s names too.” He looked back down to a holographic display that had popped up when they left the table and Minn-Erva felt shame color her face again, unhappy this body would so easily display her emotions. Mostly, she was angry at herself for slipping up so soon. It could be expected of Vers, she was new to all of this, but Minn-Erva had enough training, she had no excuse for any slipups.

She nodded curtly even though he wasn’t looking at them, and left. Yon-Rogg had been right, this would be a challenge.

                She thought being stuck with Vers for several hours that morning was going to be the worst thing she would have to endure. Now, she was stuck in Vers’ body, and would have her trailing around after her while Yon-Rogg figured out how to make everything seem like nothing was amiss.

When Minn-Erva left the room, she didn’t bother holding the door for Vers. She would catch it anyway, so why bother. Although, she’d be lying if she hoped Vers wouldn’t catch the door and that led to Vers missing the elevator… But luck wasn’t on her side today, clearly. Vers was hot on her heels, and shimmied into the capsule right before the doors shut. Choosing the path of least resistance, Minn-Erva pushed the button to take them to the floor their team had their living quarters on, and closed her eyes to ignore the other occupant.  Leaning back in the elevator, she felt a wave of exhaustion hit her and she just wanted to crash. An annoying sound from Vers popping her lips made Minn-Erva open her eyes in irritation to see Vers acting nonchalant. Of course.

                “Something on your mind Vers?” She asked sarcastically, really hoping the other would get the hint and leave her alone.

                “Well,” she drawled seeming to think on it before rounding fully on her, “since you ask, yeah, kinda. Do you really believe all of-” Minn-Erva cut her off, unapologetically.

                “That was a rhetorical question Vers, I really don’t care.” She moved to exit the elevator, but Vers pressed the lock button and the doors closed again, the overhead lights turning red and everything going into lockdown. Minn-Erva sighed, why hadn’t she been allowed to shoot this girl? As it was, she plastered on a slight smile and looked back at her own face frowning in frustration.

                “My apologies Vers, whatever was it you wanted to say?” She watched dark eyes roll and waited.

                “I was only saying I have some qualms about what Yon-Rogg said. Now,” blue shoulders slumped, and hands came up to wrap around equally blue elbows, “I know I haven’t been on this team very long, but I don’t think I can take everything Yon-Rogg said just now at face value. I can’t explain it, but I feel like he didn’t tell us everything. Does that make sense to you?” Her face looked up, and for the first time, Minn-Erva saw something she hadn’t seen in some time running across her blue features, fear. As much of a hardass that she was, sometimes, she still had feelings other than determination, anger, and pride. Sometimes she felt joy, amusement… happiness. And yes, sometimes she even felt pity. For the first time in their entirety of knowing each other, Minn-Erva decided to let Vers in and tell her a secret only Yon-Rogg knew.

                “Sometimes, I get feelings. When people aren’t being honest. It’s a me thing, not really a Kree thing. That’s one reason Yon-Rogg persued recruiting me after…” She looked away. Vers didn’t know about Minn-Erva’s upheaval from her old life, that much like Vers, she had lost much. Unfortunately for Minn-Erva, that didn’t include her memories.

                She saw Vers begin to reach a hand out, but pull it back to her side. Good, she thought relaxing, that would not have been welcome. With Yon-Rogg it was one thing, but with Vers… Minn-Erva wasn’t one for touchy-feely things, avoiding them entirely if she could. Sometimes she couldn’t, but most of the time Minn-Erva found it relatively easy to deflect and redirect. Much like now, with Vers distracted by her confession, Minn-Erva took advantage of it and before clearing her throat, immediately put the mask she always wore back on.

                “Anyway, it could be that, or you might be hungry. I don’t know if you ever paid attention, but that much durability and strength training takes a toll on your appetite.” She saw Vers nod, maybe she had seen during the few meals they ate together how much the whole of the Starforce ate. Granted, Vers had quickly become almost as insatiable as the rest of the team, she now had Kree blood flowing through her veins as well, but that had not always been the case. Vers didn’t even know she was almost nearly as Kree as Minn-Erva or Yon-Rogg, but it was true. Though there would always be a bit of human in her…

                “Maybe you’re right…” Minn-Erva smiled to herself, and snuck an arm behind Vers to pull out the button keeping the compartment under lockdown. Vers didn’t try to stop her, and soon the regular lights and sounds popped back on, the doors opening a second later. Minn-Erva strode out, but to her annoyance she heard Vers keeping up.

                “Alright, so do you want to go get some food? I mean, since we’re kind of stuck as each other.. Maybe we should do some things together now?” Stopping short outside of the room she didn’t want to go in, Minn-Erva turned back around to see her counterpart fidgeting nervously in front of her.

                “Vers, it’s been a long day. If you want to go get food, I’m not going to stop you, but I am not going to accompany you. I plan on getting as much sleep as I can, and come morning, doing everything I can to fix this. Okay?” She saw Vers open her mouth, but close it just as fast. Good, maybe she was able to be taught things after all.

                “Alright.”

                “Good. Now, Is there anything you need from your room before I take it over for the time being?” She figured the answer was going to be in the negative, but to her surprise, she saw Vers take on a stricken pang, finally glancing up to see which door they were standing in front of.

                “Oh, Oh yeah. I’ll just grab a few things.” She put her hand on the reader, brows knitting together when the red flash warned her the door would remain shut.

                “What the?” She tried again, slapping her palm down more forcefully this time, but the computer still did not recognize her prints. Minn-Erva sighed, maybe she could be taught, but it would take time. She held her borrowed prints over the lock and with a green flash, the door slid open. She heard the soft ‘oh duh’ from Vers and gave her a 10 second head start before she followed Vers inside.  Vers had already pulled a small satchel from somewhere under her bed and was putting things into it. A small book and pen, a t-shirt, and a small piece of metal Minn-Erva knew instantly to be that scrap of metal from C-53 with her name on it. Minn-Erva didn’t avert her gaze, mostly because she didn’t care, and she knew Vers knew that.

                “Yeah, that’s probably all I need… um, do you need anything out of your room?” Minn-Erva tried not to hustle Vers out of the room too quickly, not that she worried about coming off as rude, but there were some pretenses that needed to be kept. Like Vers said, they were going to be seeing much more of each other than usual now, and besides, what Yon-Rogg had said when they first brought Vers here flashed through her head… ‘Include her as if she is one of us, as if she has been from the start’; it always made her grit her teeth, but she tried. Some days, like today however, were much harder than others.

                “No, I think I’ll be fine. If I do need something I’ll send you a message or swing by, promise.” If she put a little too much girly emphasis on the promise-part, Vers didn’t say anything. They each knew neither of them were that overly feminine.

                “Well, ok. I guess we’ll uh, see what tomorrow brings. Night Minn-Erva.”

                “Hey,” Minn-Erva called out as Vers got to the door, making her turn around expectantly. “Just remember, you’re Minn-Erva now.” Vers nodded, her face slightly crestfallen and turned. “But, yeah, sleep well Vers, we’ll undoubtedly need to be well rested for the unforeseen future.” Dismissed, Vers left and Minn-Erva started pacing around her new digs, instantly taking a disinterest in everything inside. She had never been interested in Vers’ room, but now that she was here she found it entirely boring and empty. Although, she didn’t know what she had expected, given Vers had only been here a few months. It was hardly enough time to gather anything of value one would want to keep around in their personal lodgings.

                Although, even with time, Minn-Erva knew her room was just as bare. Sure there were a couple knick-knacks, but they were functional things; semi-automated grenades, knives from different fights, the fully equiped…  For a long minute she thought about going to her room to explicitly tell Vers not to touch anything she didn’t know what she was looking at, or even anything she did know what she was looking at. But... That would ensue even more time and energy spent with Vers whom, Minn-Erva needed a break from, even if it was only for a few hours. Vers had some brains in her head; surely she could figure it out.

                And besides, there was nothing in her room she herself probably couldn’t survive if it went off. And since Vers had her body, she should be fine. Probably.

                Shaking any more thoughts of Vers out of her head, Minn-Erva stripped and went hunting for clothes. They were where they ought to be, even though Minn-Erva had expected them to be in some remote corner of the room, stashed behind junk or contraband or something. But it was in the dresser, and, impressing her more, it was all folded neatly and organized. It struck Minn-Erva as funny, at how disciplined and conformed Vers’ room was, but how lax and free she was when out and about and doing her exercises. As if she had full control over everything in this room, but as soon as she left her tiny sanctum, she couldn’t control anything, least of all her emotions and her powers. Well, she thought, settling down on top of the bed, she’d save that thought to ponder about later. For now, sweet nothingness.


	2. Trust me (I could be a Doctor)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> part 2

             

                If she thought the next day would give her a fresh slate to start with, to really get a grip on what was happening and put order to it, she had been sorely mistaken. For starters, she woke up cold. Minn-Erva didn’t get cold, like… ever, so she never really paid attention to when others did. Something in her DNA, a quirk. Sadly, it was not one that Vers possessed.

                When Minn-Erva laid down last night, it had been in a t-shirt and shorts. Her usual attire. She hadn’t thought anything about how Vers might usually dress. It wouldn’t have mattered anyway, she was out in a matter of seconds. But upon waking up, and instantly shivering, she knew this was cold, and she also knew she didn’t like it.

                After using the attached toilet, scowling as she took in the frantic look that framed Vers’ face, she found some suitable layers in the dresser, and put them all on until she felt her temperature rise to a more comfortable level. She then went back to the bathroom to tackle her new hair and saw a look of determination and accomplishment on the face looking back at her. She knew it was her, but it was strange seeing it on Vers’ face. Yes, she could be cocky and confident, as well as determined, but the triumph was new. It suited her.

                After trying to replicate the look Vers usually wore, her hair up and in a bun just so, she looked again at her new features. The pink complexion was a darker pink now, and she looked like she was concentrating very hard on something. She was, trying to see if she could tell by looking at her face that she was an imposter in this body, but she didn’t need others to know something was off just by looking at her face. Minn-Erva tried a smile, one she saw Vers do sometimes when Yon-Rogg was around. It scared her immediately, and she figured that was probably enough of that.

                Instead, she decided to keep her face neutral. Vers had been confused at first when she initially woke up on Hala. Then it had been replaced with quiet awe, well, not so quiet, but still awe. Lately, it seemed everything was finally becoming routine for her, and she gave fewer and fewer looks of wonder around her. Mostly, if she wasn’t smiling around Yon-Rogg, she was focused and staring straight ahead. Many times with a smirk, like she knew something you didn’t, but probably just lost in her own tangled thoughts. Which, wouldn’t she be?

                A beep from the door brought her back to the real world and she lowered her hands from where she had been trying those finger gun things Vers did sometimes. How had she let herself sink so low, she thought, shaking her shoulders in mild disgust as she slid open the message. It was from Yon-Rogg. Minn-Erva quickly scanned the holographic paper, but it was just a modified schedule like he had promised. No miraculous fix, no quick answer to the issue at hand.

                On the bottom however, was a single sentence in green. This was a message specific to the person it had been delivered to, in this case Minn-Erva. It made scanning any announcements quick if you only wanted the details and specific instructions pertaining to you. It might typically say for Minn-Erva to grab a specific gun, or ready a certain ship, but today it said to meet Yon-Rogg in the sparring room before heading to breakfast. She quirked an eyebrow, and shrugged. Okay then. Deciding everything else was in order, not that she could say one way or the other, she left Vers’ room and made her way to Yon-Rogg.

                Having expected her, and soon, he was packing his gear away to leave when she walked in. He must have had an early morning session, maybe to get some of the stress of yesterday off his chest. After all, he had been the one to assign them that room, maybe he felt a little guilty.

                “Ah, Vers!” He said, and Minn-Erva saw a flash of something playful in his eyes. She smirked back at him.

                “Yon-Rogg.” He dropped his head with a smile, before looking back up with a blank expression.

                “Glad you decided to make it. Come on, I need your assistance with something.” He held out a hand toward the door, and Minn-Erva followed him back to the strategy room. Once inside he shut the doors and locked them in as she took a seat.

                “Glad to see you’re acclimating alright to being Vers, well, mostly. Bit chilly today?” She threw him a pointed look and he raised his hands in apology.

                “Fair enough. The reason I wanted to speak with you, and you can relax I only summoned you, is that I realized last night this could be an opportunity for us.”

                “How so?”

                “Well, I was thinking, all this time we’ve been trying to get Vers to open up, to tell us what she knows, what she might know if she could remember. About Mar-Vell or the powers she was imbued with. But so far, it hasn’t fared well.”

                “Agreed, even with those few sessions you assigned between the two of us, she hardly opens up about anything. Although that’s probably because she has nothing to tell.” Yon-Rogg glared at her, but she waved a hand dismissivly. “I know you’ve thought it once or twice as well.” After a minute, he seceded she was right.

                “But that’s what got me thinking. This whole body swap situation. All this time we’ve been trying to get her to open up to us and we’ve had no luck. But now… now we are inside her, essentially Vers is a mine waiting to be opened, and you Minn-Erva are holding the axe.” She sat back in silence, stunned. He was right of course, but how could she not think of it herself? Had she been so eager for her own comfort that she had forgone the larger picture so entirely? ‘For the good of all Kree’ echoed in her head and she found herself nodding.

                “Alright, so how do I strike it big? I might be in her head, but I’m still in my own.” She tapped a finger against her head for emphasis. “Our memories are still each our own as far as I know. I’m not sure I can get any of that kind of information.” Yon-Rogg’s face fell a little, but he still seemed confident.

                “I was afraid that may be the case. Although it is still early in this bodily subversion, so who knows, maybe with time you may.” She bristled without meaning to and stared at him confused.

                “But this isn’t permanent Yon-Rogg, Remember?” His mouth opened as though he meant to say something, but then closed.

                “Of course, forgive me. I still haven’t heard anything in regards to this from the Supreme Intelligence so I was only thinking of the near future.” She relaxed at that. Although it wasn’t bad so far being trapped as Vers, it had only been a grand total of 18 hours, give or take. There was an undetermined amount of time ahead of her stuck as such, and that was more than enough time for something bad to happen. He interrupted her thoughts before she could dwell too long on that idea.

                “Be that as it may… while you are ‘Vers’ I would challenge you to try and figure out what exactly she might be capable of. Until we can get you back, of course.” He bowed slightly and Minn-Erva felt some of the defense go out of her. Why did he always have to be right?

                “Okay… okay, I’ll try Yon-Rogg.” And that was that, he smiled at her answer and stood a little straighter.

                “Okay then, glad that’s settled. Did you have questions on your schedule?”

                “Sadly no, I get why you’ve paired Vers and I for much of the day so that’s no mystery, it doesn’t mean I’m happy about it, but I get it.” He nodded.

                “It couldn’t be helped. In a few days time, I hope to get the team together for our usual meetings and trainings, but until then, I thought it best if you two set about… trying to be more like the other. Vers will need to be able to pass as you when we do group activities, and you… well you won’t be able to just cut in and correct her. I haven’t figured out a way around that, sadly, and I don’t think I will be able to in a way where the others wouldn’t be suspicious.” That really was unfortunate Minn-Erva thought.

                “I know you said as few people as possible, but if we let the rest of the team in on the situation, we really wouldn’t have to do all of this running around would we?” He considered, but shook his head.

                “That’s true, but that was one thing the Supreme seemed adamant about. I realize it will be harder, but that was their request, for whatever reason.” She frowned. If the Supreme had said that was to be the case, then that was it. The Supreme must have their reasons.

                “Alright, but what will the others think about us being more or less sequestered from the team for the time being? Won’t they be eager to regroup and discuss the attack?”

                “They would, if they didn’t have orders to maintain team distance for several days while I conduct an investigation into the attack myself. They know the virus attacked Hala while you and Vers were still inside the training program. Each of us are under suspicion, that attack was targeted, whoever put it into motion had to have working knowledge of the Supreme, and access to our training schedules.

                “So if they see you outside of your usual schedule, they are not to be concerned. They won’t question you, if they respect command. And if they do, report back and they will have some new lessons.”

                “From now on, we’ll meet in sparring room 1 an hour before breakfast. That is typical of Vers and I.” He paused at her confused face and elaborated, “she has nightmares from her past. We train to pass the time. I try to get information, but there’s never anything new.” Hmm, Minn-Erva hadn’t known that. It didn’t matter, not really, but it surprised her.

                “So,” he said and her attention went back to him, “if there is anything new either of us has to share, we’ll do it there. Otherwise, we’ll just have a nice spar.” Minn-Erva nodded. He picked up his jacket, and again holding a hand out toward the door, they made their way to the cafeteria.

                On Hala, there were multiple organizations and buildings much like one might find in any kind of highly developed planet. Here, where the Kree trained their defenses, they lived in the same building for the whole of their training. Living among the other trainees, eating the same food, and fighting with them to develop their skills. Only when you ranked high enough, or were drafted onto a specialized team such as Yon-Rogg’s Starforce, did you get your own rooms and no longer had to share sleeping quarters. That, however, besides the in room plumbing, was where the special treatment ended.

                Regardless of rank or title, everyone ate together. Minn-Erva thought it was probably a reminder to all Kree warriors that at the end of the day they were all one, fighting for one cause. No ‘one’ above the other. It was kind of nice, most days. Although every now and then it could be the absolute worst, like when new recruits came through for the first time and completely messed up the system. But that only happened once in a while, so she supposed it was fine. She typically just avoided the busy times during periods of fresh faces.

                When they got to the hall, Vers, or rather, ‘Minn-Erva’ was waiting just inside. Yon-Rogg gave a tilt of his head, but otherwise walked past her to get into a line. She had opened her mouth to ask him a question, but his subtle head shake had her closing it fast. Instead, her gaze fell on Minn-Erva and she became Vers’ focus. Brushing her hair back behind her ears for what Minn-Erva figured must be the hundredth time that morning going by the messy look of it, Vers tried to look imposing.

                “Vers,” she said, with a little too much authority making Minn-Erva roll her eyes.

                “Minn-Erva.” Minn-Erva walked past her and got into another line, sighing when Vers got in line directly behind her. She supposed she might have to get over the initial reaction of annoyance she felt anytime she had to interact with Vers, as they would be seeing a lot of each other now, but it was difficult. Habits and what not.

                Thankfully, she stayed quiet as the shuffle of the line ran its course.

                They each placed a palm on the scanning devce when they respectively got to the front of the line, and a door slid open after half a minute, revealing the appropriate food prepared for each of them dependent on their bio-medical information. Minn-Erva wrinkled her nose at Vers’ prepared plate, she really wasn’t one for Jarkty fruit, but it couldn’t be helped. Besides, she mused, she wasn’t feeding her body, she was feeding Vers’ and this was apparently what she needed in her diet, slimy chunks of pure awful. Yon-Rogg, she decided after suppressing a gag, was asking quite a lot of her.

Maybe she could get away with not eating any of the vile fruit, she pondered. Although, as Minn-Erva glanced behind her and caught Vers’ face at the plate she carried, Minn-Erva could’ve laughed. Vers looked almost as displeased as her.

                They caught a table near the back, one that had previously held new members of the regime who had cleared out already for early lessons, and relaxed a bit since there was no one else close enough to them to intrude in their semi-private space. Vers, as usual, filled the silence with some chatter.

                “So, looks like we have a whole day of things to do together.” She let the utensil hang from her mouth as she reached for a napkin and Minn-Erva fought the urge to rip it out of Vers’ mouth and set it down on the plate like any normal person would have done. Like she would have done.

                “It would seem so.” And from there on out, Minn-Erva knew she wouldn’t have any time to herself until she laid bac down for sleep.

                The rest of the morning was spent deflecting Vers’ commentary and questions and counting the time before Minn-Erva would have her body back. This body swap thing was getting old, real fast.

At the moment, however, things were blessedly quiet as Vers was focusing the aim of her weapon. Minn-Erva would admit, she was already pretty good. She wondered if she had to do similar things pretty regularly back on C-53. That would make sense, as Mar-Vell would likely want to surround herself with those who could protect her if, when push came to shove. Although, Minn-Erva arched a brow, not good it did her in the end.

                A beeping tone and a red flash of the side lights played throughout the range and Vers lowered her gun to look at Minn-Erva. After the single red light had gone off, the entirety of the room returned to its normal setting and all targets were whipped back into the wall cubbies they had sprung from. Both knew the lights and sounds signaled a message from Yon-Rogg, and that it was an emergency situation. He had never enacted a total shutdown of any of their trainings before, so each were justified when their nerves started to climb.

                The same signal of beeps sounded on the wrist control Vers was wearing. She fumbled, working the lid off, and took the holographic message out.

                “What does it say,” Minn-Erva asked, watching as her blue hands had a slight shake to them. Vers looked up and Minn-Erva knew she wasn’t going to like the news.

                “Yon-Rogg. He says they’ve caught information about someone who potentially helped the Skrull implement their tech virus.”

                “And?” Minn-Erva prodded when Vers stopped there. Surely there was more to it than that, Yon-Rogg wouldn’t interrupt their training just to tell them he’d gotten information… right?

                “And he wants the team ready to fly in five minutes.” Minn-Erva had to do a double take because she wasn’t sure she had heard right.

               “What? You should have led with that Vers, c’mon,” she turned to go but Vers stopped her with her next sentence.

                “He wants the team ready to fly, except for us.” Minn-Erva paused, arm halfway into the jacket she was hastily throwing back on.

                “What?”

                “Except for us. You and I are to stay here and keep an eye out in case this lead turns out to be a secondary trick by the Skrull to leave Hala vulnerable to attack.” The reason Vers read made sense, but they both felt it was not the real reason Yon-Rogg want them to stay and Minn-Erva was furious. Angrily, she glared at Vers before turning on her heal and walking out. How could Yon-Rogg do this to her? Was she not his second in command?

                She was soon standing outside his rooms and as if the universe aligned for her, the door opened and he stepped out, adjusting some settings on his wrist communicator. He saw her and paused for a second before continuing on, taking long strides that Minn-Erva had to hustle to keep pace with.

                “I know you’re upset, but there was nothing else I could do.”

                “Yon-Rogg I am your best sniper and your best pilot, how can you make me sit this one out? There was an attack on Hala, the Supreme Intelligence, on ME! And you want me to sit here and babysit?”

                “If I knew for certain this was a concrete lead, I would have both of you on board, rest assured.” Again, she knew this made sense, but she still felt as though the exclusion was personal.

                “Then just take me! She’ll be fine by herself for a day or two.” He turned toward her and arched a brow but she didn’t back down.

                “I’m serious Yon-Rogg, I want to go!” And if she had any room beneath the anger she felt, she might have heard how childish that sounded and felt embarrassed. But she was too mad to feel anything besides fury at being left behind. Left out of finding a solution to her body swap issues, left out of her rightful command, left out of th-

                “Minn-Erva!” She startled and looked at where Yon-Rogg was staring at her. She looked down at herself and then dropped an inch back to the ground, the energy that had been subconsciously flowing out of her hands and feet back in check. There were scorch marks where some of it had flown out of her fists and blackened the walls. She stared at her hands a moment and then back at Yon-Rogg who frowned.

                “Minn-Erva,” his tone softened and she looked away. She didn’t want his pity, she didn’t want anything from him. Honestly, now she just wanted to hide. Or shoot something. She hoped Vers wasn’t still in the shooting range, she had some emotions to work out.

                “Believe me Minn-Erva, if I could spin this in some way to take you along I really would. But as it is, you might be the most useful here. You have Vers, you have her body. See if you can’t figure some things out.” She held his gaze for a minute or so following his words, and then turned on her heel and walked away. Did he not think she was already trying to figure things out? How could he even say that?

She was so angry in her march back to the shooting arena, she ran smack into someone before she could stop herself. Looking up from the floor, her body wore a similar expression to the one on Minn-Erva’s borrowed face, mostly shock, some concern.

                “You went to see Yon-Rogg?” Vers held out a hand, but Minn-Erva shrugged it off and picked herself up.

                “I did, and it’s useless. He wants us here. Out of the fight.” A scowl crossed Vers’ face and Minn-Erva raised an eyebrow.

                “That’s a load of shit.”

                “Strong words blondie.” The scowl deepened and Minn-Erva almost smiled, almost.

                “Well it is! We’re not incapacitated because we’re in different bodies. You can still fly and shoot, and I can.. well I can follow… I’d just figure it out!” Minn-Erva had to concede, Vers did usually figure it out. Although how much stuff got blown up in the process, was always a gamble.

                “Be that as it may, he was adamant. We’re grounded for this one.” Minn-Erva  watched as Vers started to deflate, but ultimately held her back straight, used to getting shut down by now but remaining at the ready.

                “Fine. So what do we do in the mean time? Yon-Rogg was the go between for the Supreme Intelligence and us. As long as he’s gone, we’re going to be-” she gestured between the two of them, “like this.”

                “We’ll continue like we were this morning. Training, getting to know each other I guess.” Vers cocked her head to think it over and nodded.

                “I guess so. There’s nothing much else we can do. That said… want to go shoot some guns?” This time Minn-Erva did smile, and she didn’t even try to hide it.

                “Do I ever.”

*                             *                             *

                One day turned into two, turned into a week. Minn-Erva had expected to go stir-crazy by lunch the first day, but surprisingly, she didn’t find herself wanting to shoot Vers every second of the day anymore. Maybe only once or twice a day now. Idly, she wondered if that was because it would harm her own body if she did so. If they had been forced to stay behind together while in their own bodies, would she be so easily swayed? Could it be she was beginning to… tolerate Vers? A woosh by her head had her ducking just in time to avoid a shot that would have gotten her, and her thoughts went back to the present. She smiled, gotcha.

                Whipping around, she aimed her hands at Vers, who looked shocked. She threw one blast, still shaky, but getting better, and Vers came down from her perch to land with a _whuff_ on the mat. Minn-Erva took her time in strolling over, enjoying the victory of breaking Vers’ winning streak.

                Vers, from her position on the ground, looked up to see her body looming over her. After a second, the Vers on the floor burst into a riotous belly laugh.

                “That was awesome.” Minn-Erva thought so too, but wasn’t about to ruin her signature chill attitude by putting it into words. She did smile thinly, however, as she held out a hand.

                “Mhmm. So awesome that you lead me 8 to 1. Yon-Rogg will be most impressed by my skills of not losing at laser tag without scoring at least once.” Vers smiled sideways and shrugged.

                “You know I was talking about those magic fists you’re swinging around. You’ll have to teach me what you learn once we get switched back around. Okay? As for now… lunch?” She had said it all while walking over to the closet to hang up her vest, helmet, and specialized gun. They would need to recharge for a while if they wanted to continue their best of 10 matches. But what Vers said had given Minn-Erva pause. When they got switched back around. It had been a day, maybe even two since she last thought about it, and that had her floored. Was she actually enjoying this?

                She had to admit it was interesting, being Vers. The power that ran through her could almost be classified as intoxicating. It thrummed in every fiber of her, just under the surface. Unfortunately that was evident the first few times she attempted to use it. Wild flung out energy striking trees, or buildings. Several charred dummies in the gym. Vers tried her best to coach her, but it was hard. She didn’t want to say it, but she had no idea how Vers had had as much control as she did. The power was unpredictable.

                One day, she had been trying to shoot a photon blast at a target, and had lifted off the ground a solid three feet! Vers began screaming that she could fly, while Minn-Erva told her to stop breaking her eardrums. It hadn’t happened since, and both were a little discouraged by that.

                Her blasts, however, were becoming better. The key was not to try and control the power, but to let it flow through her. And, to someone like Minn-Erva who had trained hours and hours every day for years for the sharp control of her combat skills, it was maddening. Go with the flow really wasn’t her style, and she often got flustered, which only gave her worse results. But, today she had managed to make, and maintain, a blast that cut through several reinforced blocks of adamantium. They were both amazed. That report had been sent to Yon-Rogg even before they finished their training. Which, it was more of a single sentence than a full report, but she’d have time to compile something more prepared later.

                Oh the same hand, Vers was excelling in her training as well. Without having to worry about accidently unleashing her powers when she got upset or riled, she was doing better. She could get as angry as she wanted, and the raw passion was making her better in Minn-Erva’s opinion.

                By the end of that first week, Vers managed to knock Minn-Erva off her feet with a swipe of her legs. She quickly succumbed to a similar sweep shortly after, but the initial knockdown of Minn-Erva was amazing, to be truthful. She had thought it would be impossible to train Vers to fight, but maybe it had just been impossible to teach Vers so many things at once.

                Without learning to control her powers, she was able to learn to fight. Once she was returned to her own body, she would know how to fight, and she could concentrate on her powers, perhaps through fighting. Perhaps that’s what Yon-Rogg had missed. Because her senses were already over-flooded by these powerful flows going through her, she could not yet focus on hand to hand, or strategy or whatever. She had to master herself, get to know herself before she could truly unlock the potential of everything. It was already there, it just couldn’t be done all at once.

                But how could she phrase that for him to understand, when she only just grasped what she was thinking? Being in Vers’ body, had given her a radically different perspective of her, and Minn-Erva was honestly shocked.

*             *             *

                Another week passed before Minn-Erva was truly concerned about the rest of the team. Although she knew she shouldn’t have, when she didn’t hear back from Yon-Rogg, she had sent a message to Korath but had gotten no response. Perhaps Yon-Rogg had placed a freeze on her outgoing communications? She shrugged, that didn’t make any sense, but you never know. Although she tried to brush it off, she was concerned; Yon-Rogg had yet to send any messages back.

                 Every day since they’d left, Minn-Erva had diligently put together a report of the day’s activities to send to him, with anything regarding them and Vers, such as if she seemed to learn new moves, or tricks. Minn-Erva didn’t expect video chats or thank you cards for her efforts, but she hadn’t expected the radio silence either. Why was he holding back from answering her, to even let her know that he had received her messages? Could this be a punishment of some sort for the tantrum she threw before he left? Or, was it just what he would call an opportunity for leadership growth? She sighed, she just wanted him to return soon.

                 As it was, surprisingly she wasn’t minding Vers. And, in private, she could admit that yes, she did enjoy her to a point. Minn-Erva had always been a solitary person, and she liked her alone time. Vers, on the other hand, seemed to thrive off other people. All the time, when she was not with Vers looking like Minn-Erva, Minn-Erva would get stopped by someone in the halls, or in the locker rooms just for an idle chat. Everyone seemed to know Vers, and that made Minn-Erva’s teeth grind. She had talked to more people as Vers, than ever as herself. It didn’t make her jealous, not really, but it did agitate her. It was just too much at times.

                She liked being herself, where people feared her and didn’t initiate conversation. She didn’t want to listen to other people’s little hiccups in life, or their woes. She had enough to worry about in defending everyone from forces that would give them nightmares if they only knew. And yet…

                She was telling people things she would never have admitted to anyone if she had been herself. It was nice in that they all thought it was Vers, so it would never come back to her, especially the embarrassing stuff, but it drained her too. She never talked about herself for various reasons, especially at such length.

                One because she didn’t trust easily, another because talking to people made her weary. She also didn’t feel the urge to unpack her tragic backstory with everyone either. She didn’t like to talk about herself. Sometimes she needed to, but she didn’t particularly like it.

                So it was, today, concerned because she had yet to hear from anyone on the Starforce for almost two weeks, and already being pestered by one too many people with stupid conversations, she was stopped again, inside one of the hulls of a ship, in the middle of deciding if she should steal it and go off to find the others, or give them another week before doing so. Surely she could get the coordinates from the strategy room, Yon-Rogg’s main office. She knew how to fly, even if she was now in a Vers shaped body. It should be easy. She even found herself thinking she would take Vers, just because. She wasn’t technically necessary, but the company might be nice.

                With that thought she decided to give it another week. If she could stand being with Vers for a trip just to have company, Minn-Erva could give the others another week to get back. In the meantime, since she had already picked out the bird she wanted to take regardless of when they would leave, Minn-Erva started going over the ship manifest to see that it would be ready to go in a moment’s notice should they need to speed up their timeline. But, someone had spotter her as she was moved tanks around one of the ships, and recognized her as Vers.

                “Hey, you don’t have clearance here Vers.” He frowned at her sweaty complexion, obviously busy moving things around, “I’m sorry, but I can’t have you just walking around in here. You’ll have to leave.” This part was especially annoying she thought, because while Minn-Erva had access to everything here, Vers only had access to her room. Of all the times to be stopped, and someone to use their rank and the rules against her, it totally sucked.

                “Oh, yeah, uh Minn-Erva sent me here. She said to prepare one of these to go out and rendezvous with the rest of Starforce.” The guy swallowed at the mention of the most elite team the Kree had, but held his ground. Damn, and Minn-Erva had thought she really sold that Vers impression.

                 “I’m sorry Vers, but Minn-Erva will have to come and clear it first.” She tried for a pout, and it seemed to work. “Look, I would let you be, but then Yon-Rogg’d be on my butt and get me sent to toilet duty if I broke protocol. I just can’t.” Her patience was already thin from having to deal with so many people and she could feel herself reaching her limit, dropping the act in an instant and showing part of her true rage.

              “Listen here asshole, I’m going to continue prepping this bird whether you clear it or not, so I suggest you just turn around and forget about this little run in.” He jumped back as if her words burned him. She supposed Vers would have never used that kind of language, but she didn’t care. He had no idea who he was talking to, and it was getting on her nerves.

              “Oh man… Look, I’m sorry but… the rules.” He stepped forward to grab her by the shoulder and she couldn’t help the reflex, kicking him square across the jaw. He went down with a hard crash which alerted his partner.

              “Hey!” He rushed forward to help, and after the first male was up again, they circled her.

              “Vers, do this the easy way. Come with us to the tank, cool off. It’s been a hot day, everyone would understand if the temperature got to you.” Minn-Erva rolled her eyes and set her shoulders, didn’t they realize she had things to do? With that flick of anger, a glow came from her hands and her hair started to shine bright as well. Huh, well how about that.

               She smirked as they scrapped, receiving about as many blows as she was doling out, and soon they were all panting and bleeding. Minn-Erva, however, felt better than ever. The energy flowing through her was giving her remarkable strength and stamina. She stood breathing hard and staring at the two men, bent over each other, pulling long drags of breath in, and she felt victory was in sight.

              “If you go now, I’ll forget the whole thing,” she promised, and she found that she meant it. She just wanted to finish putting things where they belonged. She knew she needed to get out of here and calm down, but couldn’t do so until she finished this task first. She waited with crossed arms as they seemed to think on it for a bit before each of them nodded.

              “Okay, okay Vers. We’ll go. Continue as you were.” Smiling, she nodded her thanks and turned around to go back to setting the ship how she wanted it. The roar from one of them, and the pain on the side of her head was a shock, but had her reeling instantly.

               She looked behind her and saw one of them holding his gun up, the end toward her. He raised the gun up higher after she saw it, and something snapped in Minn-Erva at seeing he would dare club her with his gun, not once but a second time if he had to!

               All of a sudden, the energy in her seemed to rise. She was mad and stressed, and her emotions were fueling the powers. The lights in her fists became impossibly bright, and her vision had more white in it, like she was glancing through a frosted lens. But everything was clear.

               The swirling became stronger, and there was only one thing she could do. It pulled at her from the outside in, building into something Minn-Erva knew she shouldn’t use, but at this point figured why the hell not, her judgement clouded by her emotions. So, she did.

               She dug deep inside herself, pulling it up further, creating more energy, and when she didn’t think it could be any more concentrated, let it go, not realizing or caring the two men had already run from the ship.

               The flash was brilliant. It filled the room, and Minn-Erva could feel the heat that came with it. It enveloped her with a hug, a searing embrace, that shot away from her to embed it’s energy into the walls of the hull. She heard metal pop, and objects whip past her as lines broke and hisses of gas entered the room.

               In the commotion, she thought she saw another person enter the area, but when the fog of leaking chemicals and oxygen filled it, she lost the shape among the other shapes. The power that had ripped through her so entirely a moment ago, suddenly left her tired. She tried to control her descent, but ended up just barely landing on her feet where she wobbled.

               The light was still coming out of her hands, and she stared in amazement that she still had power remaining after all of that. Then she saw it again, in the glow of her left hand. There was someone there, and they were walking toward her in the foggy room. She raised a fist to intimidate who she thought would be one of the guards, but lowered her arm as the figure solidified in her vision.

               The face that came forward through the smoke was Yon-Rogg’s. She let out a good chuckle at that. Her mind was hallucinating from all of the chemical smoke and it had chosen Yon-Rogg’s likeness as the one she would see? What a joke. Of course it would be his, now that she had blown up this ship, there was no way she was going to get clearance to use another. It made terrible, terrible sense.

                Except, this Yon-Rogg was pointing a large gun at her and yelling something. She read his lips to see the word –stop- rolling off of them, but if she knew how to shut off Vers’ powers she thought she would have done so already. Looks like imaginary Yon-Rogg was an idiot. She shook her head and her visualization frowned, before taking aim and firing. For being a hallucination, the energy net that wrapped itself around her felt pretty real.

                She dropped to the ground immediately, but without being able to move her limbs due to the constrictive net, fell with a hard crash onto her side, her arm taking most of the brunt force. The moment she touched down, there was a hiss of fog filtering through the room and soon the fires were out. Her helmet, of its own accord due to the leak in air pressure, came forward and covered her mouth. The Yon-Rogg impersonator also had his helmet on, and as her eyes lazily scanned the room, saw everyone in there did. Well, at least she had a good imagination, she thought, as the figure walked forward to kneel in front of her.

                He looked at her with sad eyes and shook his head.

                “With all the concern I had about Vers getting into trouble with your body, it didn’t occur to me you could pose as big of a danger as her.” His tone was sad, but what caught Minn-Erva’s attention wasn’t the tone he used, but the way he talked about her as if he knew about their body swap situation.

                “Yon-Rogg?” His face softened.

                “The one and only.”

                “Oh… oh shit.”

                “That, Minn-Erva, might just be an understatement.” He helped her up, and they made their way toward the door. As they moved, she took in the sight around her, the fog slowly being sucked out by fans, and she could see the extent to  the damage she had caused. Her head had never hung so low in shame before.

                “Just stay calm,” he muttered under his breath once they reached the doors and Minn-Erva tensed when two trainees waited on the other side with their guns drawn at her, “I’ll get this sorted. Don’t do anything stupid.” Mortified at her loss of control she lowered her head in agreement and let the junior officers encapsulate her hands in de-energizing cuffs. A short hour later and they were all, Yon-Rogg, herself, Vers, and the head medical personal, in one of the offshoot rooms in the lab. She knew it was one resilient to photon blasts, but she tried not to let that fact bother her too much. She might be sat in the middle of the room on a gurney, but at least her hands were free.

                “Finally,” Yon-Rogg sighed after he closed the door and met Minn-Erva’s eyes. “You are truly a force to be reckoned with when you have Vers’ powers. I’m just glad you’re on the right side of this war.” She heard the admonishing tone in his words and closed her eyes from shame.

                “Yon-Rogg, this isn’t her fault. We were-” She opened her eyes to see Yon-Rogg holding a hand up and Vers looking chagrin.

                “That’s enough Vers, Minn-Erva can make her own decisions, and she surely will own her actions.” She nodded and Yon-Rogg continued.

                “As it is, we need to do something about this now. I’m as surprised this has happened as all of you are, but I suppose we all really should have seen it as inevitable. I’m glad it was as minimal as it was, don’t get me wrong. The fact that it could have been so much worse, however…” He hung his head and Minn-Erva’s cheeks reddened.

                “I know you have each been training  during my absence, you to become better at combat, and you for control… but, and I wish this wasn’t how I had to introduce this, but the Supreme and I have been conversing about something for you Vers that might be a better solution.” At the mention of the Supreme, Minn-Erva and Vers both spoke at the same time, causing Yon-Rogg to hold up a hand for order once more.

                “You spoke with them?!”

                “What did the Supreme say?”

                “Ladies…” he sighed, “this has been in the works for a month or so now, so no. I haven’t had communication with them yet, regarding our current situation since this happened. I’m sorry.”

                “That said, we had something built, a prototype of sorts. Just until we can finish something more long-term. Doctor?” He turned around and the Kree doctor came forward, holding a small box Minn-Erva hadn’t noticed a minute ago.

                “Yes, yes, Yon-Rogg is correct. This is only a prototype, but it should work just fine, and then we can fine tune it as time passes. It’s a regulator so to speak. The energy that runs through you, oh sorry,” he turned from Minn-Erva and faced Vers, “the energy running through you is widely unmanaged, that is to say the potential it carries is always in a state of flux allowing more to be generated in a blink of an eye. While your body appears to be able to handle that much fluctuation physically, it would appear mentally you are just not capable to control it yet.” He didn’t say it in a sneering tone like Minn-Erva might have, but seemed to sympathize with Vers.

                “I’m getting better at it,” Minn-Erva might have taken that moment to roll her eyes and interrupt, but after having incident she just had, could see she was in no position to do so.

                “That might be,” the doctor continued, “and with teachers like Yon-Rogg and Minn-Erva, you will do well in no time. This is only to assist you in finding the right amount of power for now. It regulates how much physical energy your body will be able to translate into usable energy like photon blasts, or the occasional float. It should help you manage these powers of yours, like training wheels.”

                “Okay. Although I hate to admit it, a little assistance might be nice. How does it work?” Grinning, he pulled apart the box to reveal an object about an inch and a half long by an inch wide. Pulling it out of the casing, Minn-Erva’s eyebrow rose at the inch-long prongs sticking out of the bottom of it.

                “This,” he held it up for the room to see at large, “connects through the skin and tissue here, and picks up on the electrical impulses of energy going through you. It acts in a such way to tamp down on the outflow of such energy. Like a funnel almost.” He waited for Vers to state an admiration, or commend him on his idea to get a working prototype up and running in less than 4 weeks, but the longer the silence hung in the air, his smile fell.

                “So, this regulator is meant to be a permanent attachment at some point?”

                “Well…” A stern look from Vers made him flush, but he didn’t try to contradict her.

                “And those stabbers on the back? Where do you attach this sucker?”

                “Oh the attachments.. well, yes, I would think in a revamped model we might be able to make them smaller… perhaps with the help of my team…” He looked at Yon-Rogg who glared at him, but the moment was over before Minn-Erva could think too much on it.

                “Will it hurt?”

                “Only for the initial placement and energy adjustment. Then it shouldn’t even be noticeable.” Vers bit her lip but nodded.

                “Probably the same as a bug bite,” Yon-Rogg suggested and the Doctor agreed.

                “Alright. That, doesn’t sound so awful. But…” her eyes trailed over to Minn-Erva and for a second she was lost in what Vers could be thinking. Then it hit her. She was hesitant to agree to have this hardware installed because it wouldn’t technically be on her right now. She didn’t want to potentially hurt Minn-Erva by agreeing to have a prototype implanted in her body. It was oddly touching.

                “Vers, if you are worried about me, don’t be. If you repeat this to anyone I will be quite cross with you, but I can admit I do not have the same control over this powers as you do, clearly. This will be for the best for now until we’re switched back. Then maybe you’ll get the fun upgrade. Until then you’ll just have to be jealous as I tote around some custom bling.” Vers rolled her eyes, but smiled.

                “If you really think this is the right thing to do.”

                “For now, I do Vers. I’m…” but she shook her head, emotions weren’t going to change anything now, indeed, that’s what got her into trouble in the first place.

                “Excellent!” The Doctor chimed, “I’ll go grab my things and we can start. It’s a simple attachment, but I do need a few tools from the other room. Would you mind?” Vers realized he was taking to her after a second and she jumped, her mind obviously on something else.

                “Oh, uh, sure.” She threw a long glance over her shoulder at Minn-Erva and Yon-Rogg, but was then out in the hall and out of visual range.

                “How are you doing?” She sighed, but looked at him.

                “Fine, more angry at this stupid situation than anything.” He nodded and they were quiet again.

                “Is it really necessary?” She breathed out, but then looked away, unable to meet Yon-Rogg’s eyes. She tucked her face into her arm as she draped it over the top of the backrest, wrapping a her hand behind her head.

                “You almost destroyed the entire hull of that ship Minn-Erva, so yes I think it is necessary. But don’t worry,” he said in a lower tone he knew only she would hear, “it won’t hurt _you_ for long.” She felt a frown pull her face, but he was right, it wouldn’t hurt her for very long, and with what the doctor had described, it wouldn’t even hurt Vers when she was back in this body either. Still, it felt… sad they had to water down Vers’ potential. Minn-Erva thought she could really be something amazing once she figured everything out.

But, truth be told, Minn-Erva hadn’t asked out of any kind of fear for her own well-being, she had asked because of Vers. Dare she thought, Vers already had pretty good control over herself, Minn-Erva had been the issue here, even though thanks to this swap, everyone would think it had been Vers. It didn’t seem fair.

A moment later, she couldn’t help but grit her teeth when the sharp points slid into the skin on her neck. It was over in a second, but she felt every nano part of that second. The energy in her… shifted after a second or so. It wasn’t that it was gone, per se, but that it was harder to feel. Like it was suppressed.

                She let out a breath and felt a hand on her biceps, a small hand that gave gentle reassuring pressure.

                “You okay?” Minn-Erva looked up into her own eyes and smiled.

                “Peachy Vers. You should try it sometime.” She watched, enchanted, as her features twisted first with surprise and then into a laugh with her head tilting back to let it all out. She didn’t think she had ever laughed that hard when she was in control of her own body. What a weird sight.

                “Honestly Vers, stand back,” ah, Minn-Erva thought, the voice of reason. “Alright Minn-Erva, how do you feel? Are the adjustments okay? You don’t feel any pain?” She nodded at his questions, looking up at Yon-Rogg.

                “Everything feels ship-shape captain. Can I go now?” He rolled his eyes but smiled.

                “Clearly you are just fine.” His smile lasted a second longer before he sighed, “I would let you go Minn-Erva, but there are certain tests we need to do, unfortunately. Everything might be good initially, but… well, we’ll see.” Yes, she supposed they did need to test the new hardware and make sure it was a suitable damper for the energy in Vers’ body. Well, and that it wouldn’t kill her if she accidently sneezed.

                “Okay,” he said, seeing the acceptance in her eyes, “let’s just try something basic. Try a simple photon blast.” Minn-Erva nodded, looking around the cramped room for something to aim at. An ugly chair sat in the corner, and she figured that was as good as a target as any. In any case, it wouldn’t be missed.

                Concentrating, she sent a single beam of mostly steady energy directly at the armrest, feeling pleasure when the end of it started to turn a shade of orange and then red. Maybe this was exactly what Vers needed to control her powers, this felt like it was truly helping to funnel the rampant energy Minn-Erva kept feeling. As she continued aiming at the chair, she felt Yon-Rogg poking at the control on her neck, not paying it too much mind until a sudden click made everything stop. The beams shooting from her hands, the energy flowing through her, and the air going in and out of her throat.

                Instantly she flopped out of the elevated chair, and being too preoccupied trying to relieve the invisible constricting pressure on her neck, had landed on her face. It was a stroke of luck she hadn’t landed on her arm again. She was aware she hit hard enough for blood to begin gushing out, and felt it trickle down her cheek. Minn-Erva was a little too busy being preoccupied with her inability to breathe to care. She heard someone shouting, Vers maybe, to undo whatever had been done. Hands joined hers on her neck while another pair pried hers away from scratching uselessly on her skin. In two agonizing heartbeats, a rush of air and what seemed like static charged blood, pushed through her and she sat up gasping.

                Her wild eyes scanned the room and landed on her borrowed body, and Yon-Rogg exchanging quick looks. Having reached a point she didn’t know she had, she got to her feet and headed for the door.

                “Wait Minn-Erva-” She wheeled around so fast, she felt her head spin but kept her footing.

                “No Yon-Rogg, I am done today. No further tweaking or testing. This setting is just fine. I promise not to try and use,” she shook her hands in front of her face when words flew from her head due to being flustered, “ _these_ in the meantime!” He stood still, taken aback at her defiance to an order, while Vers sprung forward. It would take more than a harsh scolding to stop her from action. She pushed past the shocked Yon-Rogg and looped an elbow around Minn-Erva’s, not stopping until they reached the elevator and got in. She then dropped Minn-Erva’s arm, knowing how the other disliked touch and picked a floor for them to go to instead.

                Not the sick bay, Minn-Erva hoped, leaning a hand on her head and her side against the wall of the cool metal. She did not want observation and hook ups to machines or whatever other invasive things they would think they should test her for. She wanted quiet, time, nothingness. Right, she wanted a void, or the nearest black hole.

                The doors beeped once and opened, letting a subtle breeze blow through the small compartment. Minn-Erva instantly felt better, and opened her eyes to see the sun setting against the horizon. She stepped out, taking in the sight, gaping back at Vers after a minute, wondering just how she knew how to get out on the roof. And what the codes were, so she could do it herself.

                Vers shrugged and walked past her to sit on the edge of the rooftop, feet dangling over the lip of the building, and closed her eyes. To be honest, Minn-Erva thought it looked pretty comfortable.

She eased her way over and sat down, looking out over Hala. After a few breaths, she was surprised to realize this was the most peaceful she had felt since she could remember. Of course, her sense of calm might be a bit biased since she had nearly asphyxiated not five minutes ago. She was pretty appreciative of everything right now. When she looked over and saw Vers was frowning, looking at her, Minn-Erva’s defenses came back online.

                “What?” Minn-Erva couldn’t help the sharp tone that leapt to her voice, and Vers flinched. Minn-Erva wouldn’t normally feel bad about it, but she knew Vers didn’t deserve the backlash. That should be Yon-Rogg’s meddling privilege. Even so…

                “Sorry.”

                “No, it’s fine. I’d probably be the same way.” Vers looked back out over the city and Minn-Erva followed suit. It really was nice. Absentmindedly she scratched at her neck and jumped when her fingers came in contact with the hateful little device still attached. She sighed and lowered her hand.

                “I’m… sorry about this too.” And it was strange, but Minn-Erva was. She really was. She looked back at her own dark gaze scrunched in confusion, but could easily picture Vers’ face with the same expression. She pointed at her neck and Vers shrugged.

                “I mean, I agreed to it too. I get it’s necessary until I can control my… self, but that doesn’t make it seem any less… odd y’know? Like he just happened to have it now? And, and… ugh, I don’t know, sometimes it just feels like Yon-Rogg’s training is, not training at all, if that makes sense. Like he sees me as more of a puzzle than a person? And this seems like just another step in some plan I don’t quite know the endgame to. I know it’s crazy, I’m sorry. I don’t mean to make this about me. I’m just getting emotional again.” Swallowing, Minn-Erva repeated the line she and Yon-Rogg had both been given to say.

                “Vers, the Supreme Intelligence gives us all the powers we work on, and if we are not careful they can be taken away. This isn’t taking them away,” she shuddered, however, remembering at how her breathing HAD been taken, just for a minute, while it had been tinkered with, “it’s just to help you regulate them. Just because he trains you differently doesn’t mean he has ulterior motives. We’re all different in our learning.” It was a bit of a lie by omission, but really not too far off the point, Minn-Erva thought.

                “No I get that, I just… something feels so off lately. I just wish the Supreme Intelligence would verify entrance for us soon. Surely they have scanned and figured out if there could be any further attacks? If not, our own people monitor the sources that are allowed entrance, shouldn’t that be enough? Hell, any Starforce entrance goes through Yon-Rogg first anyway!” Vers, Minn-Erva thought startlingly, had a point. While meeting with the Supreme Intelligence had gradually fallen further down on her list the longer they had been stuck like this, she was shocked that it had taken this long to begin with. Surely, the Supreme would want to fix this mess as soon as possible. Minn-Erva and Vers were basically a catastrophe waiting to happen the way they were. Especially so when they had just been switched. Minn-Erva hated to admit it, but Vers had a better handle on this than Minn-Erva had thought. Which, if she could entertain that thought, did it mean some of her other ideas might carry some merit?

                Was something off? Could Yon-Rogg be keeping something from them? From her? Well, maybe it was time for another one on one session with their leader. If he was holding back information, he had better have a damn good reason. She sighed, that would take time and energy she just didn’t have right now. Maybe she’d launch her own investigation; it might be faster and more truthful that way.

                “Maybe we all need to just take this easy.” She didn’t know if she had spoken for her own benefit or for Vers’, but her words seemed to hit home for both of them. Vers nodded, and got up, holding a hand out for Minn-Erva who took it without thinking twice about it. They rode down in the elevator, going past the labs and the med-bay, and ended up near their rooms. They stopped, and Minn-Erva blinked suddenly. How was it they had come to Vers’ rooms already? She shrugged it off, and opened the door with her hand.

                When she had stepped through the doorway she turned, expecting Vers to follow, but she wasn’t even in the doorway. Minn-Erva hurried back out, and caught Vers by the elbow a few steps away. She seemed surprised, but pleased.

                “C’mon, let’s… talk a little more. Inside.” She knew her tone was suggestive, and if anyone had been walking past would have guessed that she might be up to something or plotting, but it couldn’t be helped. She needed Vers in her room. What she was about to say could not be overheard by anyone, at any cost. Out in these halls, anyone could pry. Inside, Minn-Erva felt more confident her words would only reach their intended person, and no one else.

                She very much hoped so, anyway, since she had removed all of the listening devices placed within Vers’ room that she knew of the first night Minn-Erva had spent there.

                With the door shut, Vers walked in, almost uncertainly. And, Minn-Erva supposed that made sense. It was Vers’ room, but Minn-Erva had moved things around. It probably matched her own rooms layout perfectly the way things were now.

Chairs and tables out of the way, nothing able to be tripped over should she need to escape quickly, or someone were to try and ambush her inside. Paranoia and preparedness were a fine line, she could admit that, but being so heavily trained as an elite warrior and witnessing so many events of tragedy surely placed her actions more into the latter category rather than the first.

                Minn-Erva waited as Vers finally took a chair over by the book shelf and Minn-Erva moved a stool from where she had stashed it in the bathroom, to sit in front of her. They sat in silence for some time while Minn-Erva gathered her thoughts. Vers didn’t seem to mind, sitting quietly with non-questioning eyes watching as Minn-Erva picked at her fingernails. Finally, Minn-Erva got up and went to the bed, where she flipped up the pillow and grabbed a small object Vers couldn’t identify because it was so small and far away.

                Minn-Erva walked back over and sat down heavily. She seemed to be weighing the object in her hands before she stuck one palm out nearly an inch or so from Vers’ face.

                “Here,” she said holding out an object which Vers took hesitantly, “it won’t bite, or explode. It’s just a pin.” Vers turned it over with her fingers a few times before looking back at Minn-Erva.

                “Why, and what?”

                “It’s from the first grenade I threw at a Skrull formation during my first mission. It got stuck on my finger and I almost blew up the whole Starforce. Yon-Rogg took the live grenade and tossed it before that could happen.” Vers stared at her with wide eyes, almost begging to hear more.

                “It reminds me,” Minn-Erva continued taking the pin back in her own hands and fastening it on the collar of Vers’ shirt, “that we are a team, that we have each other’s back. Sometimes,” she relented, “I forget that I can lean on anyone besides myself.” She stayed silent, and watched as Vers ran a finger over the pin. Minn-Erva swallowed and made a decision. Yon-Rogg wouldn’t need to know, and besides, it would help with her mission. Establishing ties with Vers had surprisingly happened without her even realizing, now she was going to cement them. At least, that’s what she told herself.

                “Vers, listen to me and listen well because what I say I am not going to repeat. Anywhere. I’m going to look into what you said, because…” she paused at the intense look Vers was giving her, “because you’re right. This whole situation seems… off. If this were simply a case of ‘you not being able to control yourself’, then a body switch would have solved that. Because the only reason ‘you’ lost control, was because I can’t control this energy the way you seem to be able to.”

                “Look, I don’t know what’s going on, but I believe what you’ve said is right. I just don’t want you to get in the way.” Vers opened her mouth but Minn-Erva held up a hand.

                “I know, you’ve been training but, if something nefarious is afoot, it won’t be enough. Let me handle this.” She lowered her hand and Vers closed her mouth. She nodded, but Minn-Erva could tell she still had something she wanted to say. She sighed and told her to spit it out.

                “Well… I mean this is a great plan, really, I don’t want to undermine your authority,” Minn-Erva rolled her eyes because that was a first, “but won’t you need… this?” She held up her hand, and Minn-Erva blanked for a few seconds before understanding just what Vers was referring to. And then she groaned, because yes, she would be needing her fingerprints if she wanted to get anywhere near the truth of what was going on. She lowered her head.

                “Well, I guess it’ll be a team effort then,” she looked up and saw Vers smiling. She didn’t know when, but seeing that flash of teeth on her own face had become so commonplace, it didn’t bother her anymore. She thought it looked kind of nice, even.

                “Okay then, sounds like a plan.” She got up to rise but paused at the door, her hand hovering over the button to open it. “Minn-Erva,” she turned and Minn-Erva glanced over her shoulder at her, “thanks. For telling me all that, and believing me, and… including me.” A finger stroked the edge of the pin and she smiled again.

                “You sure you’re okay?” She gestured at Minn-Erva’s neck and the other shrugged it off.

                “I will survive Vers.” Vers grinned and nodded, finally opening the door.

                “See you tomorrow.” And then she was gone. And so, Minn-Erva supposed, she would be.


	3. Equilibrium

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> part 3: conclusion time

                Hiding their activity from Yon-Rogg was the hardest part. He was, ever since Minn-Erva went supernova, always around. Always checking on her and her new neck accessory. In their meetings, now that he was back, they were cool to each other. Maybe he thought she was still sore from being chastised, or that she had to wear the thing. Or, maybe he just thought she was sick of being stuck in Vers’ body. It didn’t matter.

                The meetings were short. She never had much to say, and he didn’t pry. Minn-Erva wondered if he felt like he was talking to the real Vers all over again.

                In reality, Minn-Erva and Vers’ snooping were on hold because Yon-Rogg was involving himself so much. There was never a time he didn’t seem to just be around the corner, making it impossible for them to get back into any of his files.

                Indeed, Minn-Erva was starting to wonder if he suspected anything might be out of the ordinary. But there shouldn’t be any signs of it. They only ever talked in her room after Minn-Erva double-checked it for bugs, and had maintained their old, cold acquaintance-ship that had been in play when Yon-Rogg had left. And yet… it felt like he knew. If they didn’t figure out a way to get him off of Hala for something, or into a meeting, they would never have time to investigate.

                And, it wasn’t until a week after the incident that a miracle of sorts happened and they had their chance. Minn-Erva was working on fixing a spazzing gun in the range when Vers, rushed in with big eyes. It was still way too early, but she looked like she had been up for hours, or, like she had never gone to sleep from the previous night.

                “We gotta go now! C’mon.” She grabbed Minn-Erva by the hand and then ran them to the stairs.

                “Wait, what’s going on?” They climbed the stairs quickly, levels becoming going into double digits between her and where she had been. She was glad Vers’ body had good cardio skills, as the pace Vers set was grueling.

                “Yon-Rogg, trapped in elevator, no signals out. Gotta hurry though.” This was all thrown over her shoulder and Minn-Erva understood completely.

                “Did you?” She began but dropped it just as quickly. It didn’t matter if Vers had locked him in an elevator somewhere, all that mattered was they finally had their chance. Inside the strategy room, was bound to be the answers they wanted.

                A quick slap of the palm, and they were in, huffing while making their way over to the large computer. Minn-Erva made quick work of opening any files they saw, and Vers was rummaging around the desk and walls for anything useful.

                Minn-Erva pulled up several files on the damper on her neck and to her dismay, it was backdated to a month and a half ago. He hadn’t been lying about it. Unperturbed, she dug deeper. A beeping on Vers’ wrist made Minn-Erva look over at her and she shook her head.

                “Two minute warning.” Minn-Erva nodded and let her fingers dance across the keypads. Something, something, she thought, there had to be someth- and then she found it. Several video logs, and typed instructions. She hit play on the most recent video, the time stamp being the same day Minn-Erva had had her hardware installed and sat back in the office chair, her breath caught in her throat.

                On screen, Yon-Rogg could be seen entering the hall of neural connections. The doors had been closed for the duration of their body switch, and no one had been granted access inside. But Yon-Rogg, after looking over his shoulder, walked straight in. The camera changed and after a second of snow, came back into focus. It was Yon-Rogg facing the camera, looking out as if he was staring right at her.

                “Minn-Erva and Vers?” He asked, and she nearly bolted out of the seat to drag Vers out. She would have, had he not continued.

                “I still don’t understand. They shouldn’t have but... With all due respect, let me do it, I know it’s not ready yet, but she can withstand it.” There was silence, but Yon-Rogg was nodding, head down in respect before barking out a laugh.

                “Then  you don’t understand Minn-Erva. She will keep fighting until she dies from exhaustion. Which, I would have thought would be in my absence working with Vers, but here we are.” He paused and nodded again. “As you wish it.” The video cut out and she let her hands hover over the keys, unwilling to unpack what she just saw, but having to. Behind her, although Minn-Erva didn’t know when Vers had taken that position, Vers spoke up.

                “That one,” she pointed at and a thumbnail higher up on the list. “Play this next.” Her tone was flat with anger, and Minn-Erva could see why, she was beginning to feel it herself. Obediantly, she clicked on the video. It was from the day of the Skrull attack, and both Minn-Erva and Vers were in the thumbnail.

                It had been queued up to the point where Vers had lost control and Minn-Erva had yelled at her to stop. For a second, MInn-Erva marveled at how cold and angry her voice was. She didn’t even recognize it.

                The screams from the video brought her back and she watched how it had happened. The flashes of light took less than a minute, and soon they were both on the ground. Minn-Erva, now as Vers, had raised her hands up feebly before passing out with the final energy blast and becoming as still as her own body.

                In the office as they stared at the aftermath, Minn-Erva couldn’t help the spike of confusion in her. Why hadn’t he showed this to them before? She wasn’t sure, but maybe it could have helped. She had turned to ask Vers that same question, when his familiar voice came from the monitor.

                “It’s done? Excellent. Do they have any clue?” He laughed mirthfully and Minn-Erva’s skin crawled. “Then this shouldn’t be difficult. Either we will get what we want to know about Mar-Vell, or about Vers’ powers, or perhaps I’ll be down an officer. It should be fun.”  He shrugged. Minn-Erva looked back at Vers to see her pinching the pin Minn-Erva had given her between her fingers, her eyes were hardened, concentrating on the screen.

                “I still think I should have switched with Vers, as I know her the best, but I respect your judgement. Minn-Erva would have run things in my wake as I would have, no questions asked. This… well it will be entertaining.” He knew. He knew it and he had helped plan it. But that meant…

                The person behind the camera, the only other one who could be there in the artificial realm… Yon-Rogg and the Supreme Intelligence had betrayed them both.

                “And the others? Oh yes, they will come to know that Vers caused this outage. No, I won’t have them communicating, they’ll be essentially cut off.”

                He was still talking when another beep came from Vers’ wrist and she cursed.

                “Okay times up. I think I’ve seen enough anyway.” Her tone was cold and flat, and it sent chills down Minn-Erva’s back. Agreeing begrudgingly, Minn-Erva closed out of the files and set everything back. At the door, she glanced back and made sure nothing was out of the ordinary, but it wasn’t. Vers’ grip on her hand pulled her out of there and she didn’t protest when it kept pulling all the way to Minn-Erva’s room.

                Once inside, Minn-Erva didn’t know what to do, so she dropped into the chair and sat, watching Vers pace about like a caged animal. For once, Minn-Erva had no training to go off of, she hadn’t been prepared for this, for her mentor to betray her, to use her in some kind of game to get information out of Vers. She had thought Vers would be equally lost in her thoughts, but suddenly Vers was sitting down and directly in her face.

                “Did you notice the timestamps? He’s keeping to his regular schedule,” Vers pulled out several old holograph assignments and highlighted the area for Minn-Erva to see. Everyday, just before lunch, while the others were tasked to training and no one would be out and about, Yon-Rogg had a free hour of time. Looking at the dates on the different schedules, Minn-Erva could confirm, they were identical with those on the videos they had scrolled through.

                Minn-Erva looked at the clock and saw it was nearly half an hour before his free hour, if he would still take it today. They had time, she realized, to catch him in the act.

                “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

                “We go flush a lying bilgesnipe?” Minn-Erva shook her head at the mashed up saying, really,it would be impossible to flush a bilgesnipe, but smiled and went with it.

                “It’s time to flush a bilgesnipe.”

*             *             *

                They got there ten minutes before Yon-Rogg. Hidden behind some stolen technology that kept anyone from seeing them if they looked that way, thank you enemy contraband. Even when he glanced his usual up and down around him, he didn’t appear to see them and went in. Perfect.

                In the mean time they waited. They had since unhid themselves and were standing in front of the building, looking up at the doors. Each stewing in their own thoughts.

Minn-Erva felt like a literal wreck, going between being angry over Yon-Rogg, to becoming overcome with great sadness. What were they going to do? It was all good and fine to confront him, but once they got their bodies back, there would be no going back for them. Now they knew the truth.

                Again, she let out a long sigh and focused on relaxing. The glow around her hands and hair dimmed and she closed her eyes. Everything was going to change.

                Vers nudged her a second later and she opened her eyes. Yon-Rogg was opening the doors and looking back. When his head came to look forward, he kept going, but slowed as if witnessing a dream. He let the door hang open, apparently forgetting about it in lieu of staring at his unintentional guests. Through the doorway Minn-Erva could see the shining blue circuits of the Supreme weaved in different mats and wall mounts inside, each pulsing with activity. Definitely up and running.

                That lying bastard!

                He stopped on the top step leading out and gaped, eyes wide at the two women in front of him. In that instant, it was abundantly clear each party knew something the other hadn’t wanted the other to know. Yon-Rogg didn’t take long to recover though, and smiled, offering a wave of his hand out of his pocket to greet them. Vers pulled one of the guns off her hip in a minute and held him in her sights. The smile and wave fell, hard.

                “So this is opportune, albeit,” he looked down his nose at Vers, “slightly concerning. I was just on my way to find both of you, but here you are. The Supreme just sent me a message and-”

                “Cut the shit Yon-Rogg.” Minn-Erva cut him off and he frowned. “We know you’ve had contact with the Supreme this whole time, and we also know… you, you both, did this.” She could see the thoughts whipping through his mind by the way his eyes glanced rapidly between the two of them, wondering just how much they actually knew and what he should say, but ultimately his frown turned into a smug grin and he let his shoulders fall into a relaxed position.

                “Well then, I guess that’s that.” Minn-Erva squinted at him, prickles of intuition raising her suspicion at the way he just casually affirmed their statement.

                “And?”

                “And now you know. Why don’t we go and talk about this, hmmm? I’m sure the supreme would love to switch you back and then we can debrief.” He went to take a step, but Vers was quicker, letting a single shot hit the pavement where he intended to place his foot. His sighed, and put Vers in his sights now.

                “Is that really necessary Vers? Come on, let’s be civil.”

                “I think ‘civil’ would have been not intentionally plotting to switch Minn-Erva and I out of our bodies only to exploit what my powers could do. But I could be wrong.” He shook his head.

                “No, you really don’t understand. Vers, you are powerful, yes, but dangerous. Your existence in a threat to our entire way of living. You cannot be allowed to be as you are, but you’re much too interesting to outright delete.”

                “You lied to me, and did this just to lessen her powers?” Minn-Erva had been certain more was at work. She had thought there was a much bigger picture which perhaps she hadn’t been able to see, but hearing how Yon-Rogg talked about Vers as if she were a… dog, made her drop her guard. He laughed at the hurt expression on her face and she felt the blood rush there in a display of embarrassing crimson.

                “You thought this was about more? Yes, I wanted to know about Mar-Vell, if Vers knew anything, but its clear there is nothing going on in that head beside snarky witticisms and hotheadedness. So yes, this was about control. We needed to manage her.”

“So you put a muzzle on her?!”

“I tempered it. Her energy was, is, only growing stronger, it is necessary for the good of all Kree that we maintain the utmost in order.”

                “She may have power Yon-Rogg, but she is no threat!”

                “Oh,” he said with such a minute change in his posture that Minn-Erva knew Vers would miss it. She hadn’t been with them long enough to know all of Yon-Rogg’s tells. He was about to do something Minn-Erva wouldn’t like, she was sure of it. “So is that why you wanted to kill her before she even woke up to tell us she didn’t remember anything?” It was so soft spoken yet malicious, she could feel the pointed stare long before she glanced over at Vers.

                “Is that true?” Oh it would have been so much easier if she didn’t sound as if someone had just punched her in the nose and then told her they’d eaten the last of her favorite snack. Moreover, why did Minn-Erva even care? What Vers thought of her? Except… she knew why. She liked being more than acquaintances with Vers, it made her happy. Often very frustrated, but also happy. She cared because Vers’ opinion of her carried weight now. Minn-Erva now thought of her as… a friend.

                A quick snap of Vers’ posture had Minn-Erva looking back at Yon-Rogg only to find he had a gun of his own drawn and aimed at Minn-Erva in a cowardly move. She should not have let her guard down between the shock of being had by Yon-Rogg and having to reveal her secret to Vers. But, they were here now, and she had nothing to lose.

               “Yes,” she sighed, eyes going back to Yon-Rogg in time to see a smug smirk disappear just as fast as it had appeared, “I wanted to shoot you on first contact.” There was silence and Minn-Erva thought Vers might just turn on her and take Yon-Rogg’s side. If it had been her in that position she might have.

                “Okay.” Minn-Erva let out a long breath, and took pleasure when Yon-Rogg started to splutter at Vers’ proclamation.

                “Okay? What do you mean okay? Vers, she wanted to kill you, I’m the one who stopped her and saved you!”

                “That might be true Yon-Rogg, but wouldn’t we all do the same? We are Kree warriors, and if we thought there might be a threat to the rest of the team, something we didn’t know about, wouldn’t it be the most commonsensical thought to neutralize the threat? Make it submissable, or remove it?” Minn-Erva felt her heart give a tug, but she pushed it aside. While Vers’ words were making her feel things she had suppressed some time ago since joining the Starforce, but she didn’t have time to dwell on them now. Yon-Rogg was still a very skilled and dangerous man. If he didn’t want them to leave and talk about this, they surely wouldn’t. And judging by the look on his face, he most certainly did not want them to.

                “So that’s how it’s going to be. After I, we, took you both in. Two separate orphans thanks to the Skrull, you would turn your backs on the Kree? So be it.” He swung his weapon around and Minn-Erva shoved Vers to the side, but not before she squeezed a round off. The resulting shout, clatter and ricochet of a return shot seemed to freeze time for a short moment.

                “Move!” The shot hit close to where Vers and Minn-Erva had rolled, but they rolled again. Minn-Erva looked up to aim a glowing fist at Yon-Rogg, but he was quick, and darted behind a pillar inside the room. Cursing, she ran behind a pillar of her own and looked over to see Vers also huddled behind a battlement. Vers caught her eye contact and Minn-Erva nodded toward where Yon-Rogg had disappeared. She held a hand up to her mouth and Vers nodded, unlatching a second gun.

                Seeing the resolve on the others face, Minn-Erva nodded and began sneaking her way around the large stones. When she got to the entrance, she saw Yon-Rogg’s gun sitting on the ground, smoking. She blinked twice before realizing Vers had shot it out of his hand. Impressive, she thought with a smile, but the voice echoing inside took away her admiration and made her frown.

                “Stop this now, girls.” She bristled at the noun, but continued forward. He knew how to push all her buttons and it sucked, but there was no way she was going to lose any of her surprise by giving away her location because he referred to her as a girl. He was a bastard for that, but she’d get all her revenge soon enough.

                “Surely you can see this was for the good of everyone? Why are we fighting?”

                “Maybe because you’re a skeevy dick!” Minn-Erva rolled her eyes. She felt the same way of course, but unlike her, it seemed Vers wasn’t above rising to the bait. It was fine, however, because it caused Yon-Rogg to move, letting Minn-Erva better pinpoint his location as he spoke again.

                “I think you’ve spent too much time with Minn-Erva Vers, you’re starting to sound like her now.”

                “You say that like it’s a bad thing.” Minn-Erva smiled, and kept herding her prey closer to Vers.

                “Don’t you see, even now you’re letting your emotions get the better of you Vers! Give this game up and understand what I’m trying to do!”

                “No way scumbag. You better a-” The shout came with a light glowing around the corner. Minn-Erva lost the smile on her face and turned in time to see Yon-Rogg holstering his weapon. In front of him, Vers was lying on the floor with water like vines snaking their way around her body. Her eyes were open, but Minn-Erva knew she was in that world created by the Supreme Intelligence. She was no longer able to fight, and vulnerable.  

                So that was why Yon-Rogg had taken the fight inside. It had been a trap from the minute his foot stepped inside. Minn-Erva and Vers had been lucky to not have accidently stepped on a transporter pad before now since they were everywhere. As far as plans went, Minn-Erva had to admit this was pretty good.

                “I know you’re close by Minn-Erva. Come out or I’ll be forced to do something I may regret.” He didn’t even bother looking around for where she was hiding, the bastard, instead he stood there with his arms crossed impatiently. After a second he sighed, and brought up his wrist communicator. After a few typed commands, the currents holding Minn-Erva’s body began to constrict and a whimper emerged from her parted lips. Red flashed in Minn-Erva’s vision.

                “Stop. Stop okay? I’m here.” She walked out from her hiding spot with a gun above her head and her other hand up too. Yon-Rogg lifted a brow and only when she tossed the gun away from her did he push a few more buttons and the squeezing stopped. Vers let out a sigh and the whimpering ended.

                “Ah, Minn-Erva, good to see you again. Care to truly join us?” He swept a hand to the rest of the open layout of the room and she cautiously made her way further into it, scowling more with every step. When she was fully in view of him and it was clear she had no plan to whip out a secret gun, or try to shoot photons at him, he visibly relaxed, letting his shoulders drop. God, she hated when people underestimated her.

                “Now, care to go quietly?” He nodded at a similar pad that Minn-Erva knew would take her to the inside of the Supreme Intelligence. She raised an eyebrow and he rolled his eyes.

                “No, I suppose that would be asking too much.” She opened her mouth to throw a creative insult at him, but the sharp cry of pain coming from Vers distracted her enough to break her train of thought. Looking down, her teammate was writhing on the ground where she had collapsed and under her closed lids, Minn-Erva could see her eyes were moving rapidly. Her mouth remained closed, but pitiful sounds escaped through the small part of her lips.

                “What are you doing to her?” She went to put a hand on her, but withdrew it at the last second should the watery binds reach out and drag her into the Supreme’s network as well. She looked back at Yon-Rogg and he shrugged.

                “Not me. The Supreme must be extracting information, or, perhaps they have begun the extraction process without you.” He didn’t seem overly concerned and she hated him a little more for it.

                “Well get her out of there, I know you can.” She glanced at his wrist and he followed her eyes before laughing.

                “And why would I do that Minn-Erva? It would completely screw up everything we have planned.” She realized after a heartbeat the ‘we’ he was referring to was not her and Yon-Rogg. Minn-Erva suddenly felt very foolish, years of her life spent thinking the two of them were a real team, a definite force to be reckoned with. The duo that would unlock what made Vers tick and just what Mar-Vell had meant for her to do, if anything. But all this time, he had meant himself and the Supreme Intelligence. Minn-Erva was just a pawn in their game. She suppressed an angry shiver and stood up.

                “Release her now.” He lifted his hand a little higher, but stood his ground even though the tone of her voice had caused a visible crack in his bravado.

                “I don’t think so Minn-Erva.” He tsked, “and here I thought you of all people would understand. Although, I suppose you wouldn’t. I did have to wipe that memory out of your head, otherwise you never would have joined the Starforce…” Minn-Erva felt the stab of a memory hit her sharply but though she tried to recall it, couldn’t conjure anything besides the feeling of despair that went with it. Minn-Erva gaped at him, unable to hold her shock.

                “Y- you what!?” His smug smile sent her over the edge. She ran at him but he pulled another gun. She swore she felt so much more being in Vers’ body, and wondered if that was why she had played right into her blind fury and her once beloved mentor. She usually had a better tamp on her emotions. Then again, it wasn’t every day you found out everything you thought you knew was a lie.

                She couldn’t help the reaction, no, but she didn’t regret it. She dodged to the left and rolled, coming to a crouch. The time for talk was over. Angrily, she got up and lunged again, this time beating him back about a foot. She was surprised, thinking surely it wouldn’t work, but it had, and easily. But, once she was planted back on solid ground, she realized why. He had allowed it to work and had probably hoped she would do just what she had. The electronic panel had caught her eyes a few seconds too late for her to change course, and she cursed Yon-Rogg’s strategic planning abilities.

                Oh god, he must have known from the beginning of this conversation. Minn-Erva cursed herself, of course he did! There were cameras and logs of who entered the strategy, how could she have forgotten? Passion, she realized, was not good in every situation.

As soon as her foot hit the pad, she knew it was too late. Her body froze, and in the blink of an eye, she had plunged head first into the world of the Supreme Intelligence. She got her bearings after a second or two and looked around. Vers was already there, kneeling in front of the shadowy figure holding a hand up over Vers’ head. She seemed to be in extreme pain even though she didn’t make a sound.

                Minn-Erva rushed forward, not quite knowing what she planned on doing once she got close enough to strike, but soon buckled and also found herself kneeling right beside Vers. She looked over and although no sounds escaped her, tears were streaming down the others’ face. Minn-Erva tried to open her mouth to ask what was going on, but instead found it flying open not under her control, but in a scream that ripped through her entire being. Oh, not this again!

                She already knew it was too late, however, as the familiar pain tore through her once more. Had it been this painful the first time? She must have pushed it out of her memories. A jolt of light had her bending backwards, doubled over in a weird bridge-like posture. Vers was doing no better beside her, curled into herself.

                This wasn’t on, she thought, gritting her teeth and looking up at the figure in front of her. Suddenly, however, she realized there wasn’t just one figure, there were two. Yon-Rogg? She thought her mind had to be deceiving her, but the more pain that went through her body, it was like the more everything around her was sharpened. Indeed, she could feel the energy building, as if energizing her to fight or fly, not realizing she was essentially pinned in place.

                Another flash had her closing her eyes, the light sending a searing pain to the base of her skull that traveled up. When they opened again, she saw Yon-Rogg smiling.

                Oh, that was it.

                With a strength she had no idea how it could persist within her swirling mess of torture, she got one foot up, and then the other, standing as tall as she could while the lightning swirled, gathering more charge. If this was anything like the first time, it would only build more, until it struck and she eventually blacked out. There wasn’t much time.

                She made her way closer to Vers, and reached a hand down, steadying the girl she had come to respect, her hand clutching around Vers’ jacket collar, ironically around the pin attached to the lapel. Her real teammate.

                “Yon-ROGG!!” The rest of her whipped around to face him, the Supreme no longer taking an ambiguous form between them. In fact, the Supreme was nowhere to be seen. Yon-Rogg stepped forward, eyes downcast on the pair in front of him.

                “Minn-Erva, this is foolish. Just accept what is and this will be done quickly.”  She grit her teeth, baring them at her ex-leader.

              “You used me. You did this to me and Vers and you expect me to just let you get away with it? This is unforgivable!” With her free hand she reached for her hip gun only to remember it would not be there. But, when she looked down she smiled, she had something better than a gun anyway. Yon-Rogg must have had the same thought as he held up his hands.

                “Minn-Erva, don’t do this. It was for the good of all Kree!”

                “Well, I guess the good of all Kree can suck my AHH!” At that second, the same in which she had brought up a supercharged fist to point at Yon-Rogg with intentions to blast him out of the Supreme Intelligence completely, a surge of light pierced through her. It came from behind, and shot out through her chest in front of her. She stumbled and had to catch herself with the hand she had pointed at Yon-Rogg. The hand gripping onto Vers had slid off with the momentum, and when she opened her fist saw the pin had come with it.

               Looking back, Vers lay in the fetal position, a light still shooting straight out of her being. Minn-Erva had seconds left, she could feel the energy like static building up in the room for one final blast. Her pain had caused her eyes to close to slits, but with all of the determination she had left, she stood against the weight of the universe and raised her hand at Yon-Rogg who gaped.

                “Times up bitch.” The light shot out of her hand at the same time the force of everything came crashing down. She didn’t get to see the way her blast sent Yon-Rogg flying far away from the two of them, nor the satisfying crunch of his head hitting the back boundaries of the Supreme. She didn’t see the smile on Vers face, or the one on her own face before blacking out. She didn’t even see the Supreme Intelligence manifest to look down at them and stare with shock and fear at the chip they had designed especially to control Vers’ power as it lay in pieces on the ground, splintered into pieces.

                The only thing Minn-Erva saw after the energy switched her back into her body was the blessed darkness of her own eyelids as she slipped into unconsciousness.


	4. Epilogue

       

                When Minn-Erva woke up, she instinctively reached for her neck, but when nothing but a warm expanse of skin met her fingertips, she sighed. What a weird dream. She sat up and scrubbed her hands over her eyes before heading to the bathroom. She went through the rest of her routine and it wasn’t until she was midway through fixing a bun on her head that she paused.

                She looked closer at herself in the mirror, but her own dark blue eyes reflected back at her. And yet, for a second, she had felt like she had seen a flash of Vers… Maybe it was just her hair. She never wore a bun. She didn’t know why she was putting one in now, so instead, she took it out and let her hair fall free like she typically wore it. Yeah, that was better. She shook her head and went to grab breakfast before her day. The schedule came just as she reached the door, and she pulled it out, taking it with her.

                There wasn’t anything different today than usual, Yon-Rogg had scheduled a meeting with her a bit after breakfast, and then she had training with Vers for two hours before her own training with Yon-Rogg. She rolled her eyes at being paired with Vers again, but then let it go. Maybe it wouldn’t be awful, she shrugged, maybe she would enjoy it.

                Her boots stopped their forward motion at that thought and MInn-Erva blinked. What had she just thought?

                She stood for another minute or two, being passed by a few new recruits, and several veteran personnel, before going into the cafeteria. She moved a bit mechanically, not really noticing her surroundings. She ate her food, but didn’t taste it. Her mind was still preoccupied with confusion.

She pocketed the remains of a baked pastry, and took her tray to dispose of it. Although she checked, Yon-Rogg was not in the cafeteria and Minn-Erva still had loads of time before she had to meet with him in the strategy room, so she took a walk. She wanted some time to think. It wasn’t as though she had something important she needed to do, but it was like her subconscious was trying to press something to the forefront. She just couldn’t figure out what.

                As her feet led the way, her mind wandered, trying to decipher what could be so important she felt like her skin was itching trying to remember. Was it her rotations? Did she forget to do something with the ship, or her suit after their last skirmish with the Skrull? And yet, every time she thought she might be able to put a finger on it, it came back a resounding no. Then, curiously, Vers came to mind, and her subconscious focused solely on that.

First on how Minn-Erva’s attitude seemed more indifferent of Vers, rather than outright annoyed. Yet, when she dug deeper, she couldn’t find any sort of resentment she usually held for the girl. That was strange, and led her back to her dream.

                It had been bits and pieces of something, maybe they were practicing, maybe they were eating, but they were together, and laughing, and they were acting like… friends.

                The beep of the elevator startled Minn-Erva and she looked up, eyebrows still scrunched together, to see the convoy had stopped at the top of the building. She didn’t remember getting into the elevator to begin with, but why had she come here of all places? If she had gone down to the strategy room, or the practice room, that would have made sense and she wouldn’t be so surprised. But here she was, on the roof of the building, seating herself on the edge to watch the sun slowly rise.

                It was comforting, and Minn-Erva had found that she closed her eyes before long. The breeze was blowing her hair around her face, not in a whipping motion so much as a gentle lofting. She felt like she could lose herself in this moment, the sun starting to warm her with the breeze keeping her from overheating, not a care in the world. She didn’t know how it was her subconscious had come to know of this place and bring her here, but she was glad it had. Although, even as she questioned herself about it, a sense of familiarity came over her. She had done this before, hadn’t she? Except it was at sunset, with-

                Just then, the abrupt slam of the door rang out with stomping footsteps that stopped quickly. Minn-Erva turned and saw Vers, of all people, facing her. She looked just as surprised as Minn-Erva felt. For a beat, neither of them made a move, staring at the other with puzzlement.

                “Uhh, hey.” Minn-Erva rolled her eyes and got up. That was a good enough sign that the moment, or whatever she was having, was over. She dusted off her pants as she walked over, acknowledging her with a raise of one brow.

                “Vers.” Minn-Erva was already past her when Vers called out to her.

                “Hey wait!” Minn-Erva turned around, looking at her. Her brow was still raised, but this time in a ‘yeah, what’ sort of pose. Vers took a second to look away, maybe gathering her nerves from the look of it, before turning back to Minn-Erva.     

                “I just… I’ve never seen you here before, so… why are you up here?” Her voice didn’t carry any of the sarcasm and snark Minn-Erva had come to associate with Vers, so it took her aback. The soft question set alarms off in her mind, as if the answer were right in front of her, but Minn-Erva couldn’t figure it out. She closed her eyes and answered as softly as the question had been spoken, and with as much uncertainty.

                “I don’t know,” she sighed back. She opened her eyes, immediately feeling embarrassed at how vulnerable her answer had been and turned away.

                Minn-Erva’s hand was just barely on the door, when a flash of a recognition ran across her brain and she turned back around, scanning Vers from head to toe. When her eyes got to the curve of Vers’ collar, being held back by such a familiar object, something in Minn-Erva snapped and she ran at Vers, clutching at her clothes with one fist balling around the object. Vers stayed incredibly calm for her part, although her eyebrows rose.

                “Where did you get this from?” Minn-Erva whispered as first, but then shouted, “Where did you get this Vers?!” Vers didn’t shrink from Minn-Erva’s rising tone, and stood her ground.

                “I found it in my room,” she paused, looking away from Minn-Erva, “I woke up and it was in my fist.” Minn-Erva dropped her grip and paced a few feet away, only to walk back and look into Vers’ eyes. But when she stared, she didn’t get a single tingle that Vers might be lying, and really, the other had no reason to. It wasn’t like Vers knew what that pin meant to Minn-Erva, that wearing it like that was going to prompt such a strong response to her, unless…

                Vers must have seen the impossible moment click in her eyes, as she took a step toward Minn-Erva, glancing at her curiously.

                “I almost left my hair down today, instead of up in a bun.” Minn-Erva’s eyes locked onto Vers and she felt herself nodding. She didn’t know why she would be agreeing with Vers, but here she was, agreeing. Vers took another step forward and they were suddenly in each other’s personal space. Except, it didn’t feel to Minn-Erva like hers had been violated; Vers felt like a welcome prescence.

                “I’ve never seen you come up here before, I thought only I knew about this place.” This time Minn-Erva shook her head in the negative. They continued to stare at each other for a few minutes until Vers leaned forward.

                “This is going to sound impossible, but I had the craziest dream last night.”

                “About you and I?”

                “Getting into a situation.”

                “The Supreme?”

                “And Yon-Rogg.”

                “Oh. Shit….” Minn-Erva let her mouth hang open and saw her expression mirrored in Vers.

                “It wasn’t a dream… was it?” Vers began nodding and Minn-Erva found she had to lean against a beam sticking out of the ground otherwise she might just fall over. No, it could not have just been a dream, it had to have been real. Except, the implications of what that meant… Dammit, she was getting a headache just beginning to think of how this was going to change everything. She looked over at Vers to see her pacing, shaking her head as if having an argument with herself.

                “I gave you that,” Minn-Erva piped up and Vers slowed in her pacing, “and you showed me this place.” She paused, not wanting to say what she was about to, but knowing it had to be said eventually.

                “I imagine Yon-Rogg attempted to wipe our memories, but for some reason it didn’t fully work. We… switched bodies,” Minn-Erva said with a surprise and suddenly that flash of seeing Vers in the mirror that morning made sense, “we swapped bodies so maybe… when we swapped back it made some sort of, connection.”

                “I don’t remember everything, but some things are coming back to me now that you talk about them. Holy shit Minn-Erva, this is awesome! It means I’m not going crazy! Today with Yon-Rogg when I mentioned I had a different dream- wait.” She looked at Minn-Erva, and she saw Vers change in front of her. As if she was figuring out something monumental, and, Minn-Erva supposed a minute later when Vers spoke again, she had.

                “Oh my god… do you know what this means? I talked with Yon-Rogg this morning and he acted like nothing had happened. He lied.” Minn-Erva swallowed at Vers’ question before she looked away.

                “Dare I say he’s done a lot more than that Vers.” Minn-Erva anwered cooly, “It seems, Yon-Rogg didn’t want us to remember, so the fact that we do is inherently to our advantage. We cannot let him know it didn’t work, otherwise I’m not sure what might happen.”

                “What do you mean?” Vers asked, her eyes finally going wide and betraying the worry she felt.

                “Well, if he meant for us to forget and we didn’t, he may try to do so again. And this time make sure it works.” Vers seemed to think on that, chewing on her bottom lip before meeting Minn-Erva’s eyes again. She was surprised, although Minn-Erva supposed she shouldn’t be by now, at the determination therein.

                “Okay,” Vers said, “so what do we do?” Minn-Erva let out a breath, and after their eyes met, they both nodded simultaneously, as if they had agreed without even saying anything.

                “There’s not much we can do Vers, right now. Maybe we bide our time, see what we can learn about what else Yon-Rogg has been lying about. There’s always the chance he’ll figure out we’re not as amnesic as he thought, or that the Supreme will reveal us, but before then…we find out everything.” A flash of something Yon-Rogg had said about taking her memories, she knew that now she remembered that, she had to know everything. Minn-Erva wouldn’t stop until she did.

                “Alright, we keep this a secret. Then,” her face fell and Minn-Erva cocked her head. “But then, doesn’t that mean we can’t really… meet?” Minn-Erva felt her stomach fall, Vers was right. The old Minn-Erva would have done just about anything to get out of spending time with Vers, if she suddenly decided that she didn’t mind the girl and attempted to form a friendship overnight, Yon-Rogg would be suspicious. Dammit!

                “No, you’re right. We might just be in the long game, is all. We’ll have to be very careful, but I’m sure there are ways.” Vers thought it over and nodded.

                “Okay, so we’ll go back to our ‘normal’, but I think if something is about to go down or the truth comes out, we need like, a code word, or a phrase. That way if everything is on the line, we might as well go down swinging with both fists.” MInn-Erva rolled her eyes at the brawny attack scheme but agreed.

                “Maybe something we might typically say, so we have that much more of an element of surprise.”

                “Hmm… how about… something like, ‘you knew all of this? Is that why we never hang out?’” Minn-Erva snorted, that certainly fit the bill, albeit it was wordy.

                “Sure, and I’ll say something like ‘No, I just never liked you.’” Vers smirked, she obviously appreciated the sarcastic snark.

                “Okay.”

                “Alright.”

                Minn-Erva wondered how much longer they would have stood there staring at each other if her communicator hadn’t gone off. Oh shit, she forgot about her own meeting with the would-be mind wiper himself. When she looked up again, she saw Vers taking the pin off her collar and holding it up to Minn-Erva, but Minn-Erva pushed it back to her.

                “Keep it, just in case. Maybe this meeting with Yon-Rogg will go horribly wrong and you’ll have to remind me of everything I forget by dinner. It’s a good talking point.” Vers accepted it and pinned it back in place. She didn’t smile as Minn-Erva passed her and gave her a half-hearted salute, instead she seemed sad. Minn-Erva did not have the emotional time or resources to unpack that right now so she stuck her head back around from behind the door, where she figured Vers would have left her gaze. She was right.

                And for just a second, Minn-Erva let her guard down completely.

                “Hey, Vers!” Of course the other was already looking at her, but her gaze sharpened and her eyebrows knit in concentration at Minn-Erva.

                “Later loser,” and she stuck her tongue out before closing the door.

                Minn-Erva swore she could hear Vers’ laughter all the way to the strategy room, where she composed herself and let herself in. Behind the desk, Yon-Rogg looked up and smiled.

                “Ah, Minn-Erva.” She smiled back in response, and knew it looked convincing. He gestured to the seat and she sat down, ready to begin what could be years in the making. They might not have their revenge for his betrayal tomorrow, or next month, but it would come.

                And better yet, she and Vers would be ready to enact it, together.

**Author's Note:**

> First off, YAY! It's over! XD This has been crazy since the beginning, and I'm glad I can go back to my regularly scheduled fics. lol I mean it was fun, but challenging!I didn't expect to write 25K+ words, but here we are. You could say it got away from me.
> 
> Second, to my giftee, I apologize if any characters feel ooc, I tried! Also, I realized with about a day and a half to go that I had definitely added one of your DNW's so if parts seem hastily pasted together, that might be why. I rewrote the ending and a few other scenes, and they still don't feel quite right to me. I'm so sorry! I just hope you can enjoy most of this messy heap of words. I'm hoping to spend a bit more time editing this in the somewhere near future, so hopefully it will become a more respectable piece.
> 
> Again, I just really, really hope you like it! :) <3
> 
>  
> 
> P.s. if anyone is interested in the angsty alternate ending, I'll probably post and link up to that on my tumblr sometime following the reveal.


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